Conservative defence critic James Bezan is calling it “really shameful” that the Liberal government did not let the public know that a Kuwaiti airbase hosting members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was hit by an Iranian missile attack on March 1.
Canada’s camp at Ali Al-Salem Air Base appears to have suffered damage in the March 1 attack, according to reporting in La Presse, which added that no CAF members were injured.
“Prime Minister Carney has had multiple occasions and press availability to disclose this fact,” Bezan said on March 12 in reaction to the La Presse reports.
“We also are very concerned that this has been an ongoing lack of transparency, and it’s part of the ongoing flip flops of Mark Carney and the Liberals on their position on the war in Iran.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed no member of the military was hurt in the attack, but deferred responsibility for not having informed Canadians of the attack.
“Well, I’m not the only spokesperson for the government, but, I'll just confirm ... the members of the Canadian Forces are all safe and sound,” Carney said at a March 12 press conference in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
“We are not engaged in these actions of the U.S. and Israel. We’re not engaged in offensive actions and we will not be engaged in those actions,” he added.
Carney initially stated support for the U.S. operation on Feb. 28, saying the Iranian regime shouldn’t be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, but later said this position was taken “with regret” as the intervention had occurred without prior clearance under bodies of international law such as the U.N. Carney has said the Canadian military won’t be joining the U.S.-Israeli military action.
The Conservative position, repeated by Bezan in his March 12 video, is full support for the removal of the Iranian regime and prevention of it from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, Bezan said that the Carney government has not been transparent enough with the Canadian people about how the war is impacting the country’s armed forces in the region.
“When we were government during the Harper era, Conservatives held ongoing press availability and technical briefings on our Canadian Armed Forces and operational impact in Iraq and Syria,” he said.
“This is a failure of the government of not wanting to communicate, not being transparent, and not sharing with Canadians exactly how Canada is impacted by this war and how Canadian Armed Forces are continuing to be in the region, not involved in this operation but continuing on in their responsibilities tied to other operations.”
Canada operates a support hub at the Ali Al-Salem Air Base, which is also used by the U.S. Air Force.
Last week, Lt. Gen. Steve Boivin of Canada’s Joint Operations Command said there are just over 200 CAF members deployed to the Middle East, but said none are involved in operations against Iran.“We’ve been focused on the force protection of our people, which means dispersing and staying in locations where the force protection is acceptable. In some cases, relocating them to a different country in the region or in some other cases redeploying them to Canada,” Boivin told media on March 5.
