Canada to withdraw jets from IS mission

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on Monday in Antalya, Turkey, vowing to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

Trudeau and other senior government officials made the comments in the wake of Friday’s terrorist atrocity in Paris, which killed 129 people and injured hundreds more.

Fabius was standing in at the summit for Hollande, who remained in France to respond to Friday’s attacks, which he called an act of war.

Trudeau’s arrival at the back of his aircraft to meet with nearly two dozen travelling journalists was a marked departure in prime ministerial communications after the strict message control of the recent Harper decade.

Bourbeau says Trudeau would have nearly no choice but to go along with the other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries if those countries did go ahead with a coordinated response.

Indeed, as the leaders of the world’s largest economies huddled here in discussions, fighters from France, the United States and Canada were pounding ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.

“Canada is resolute in doing its part against the fight against terrorism and against ISIS”, Mr. Trudeau said, adding any end to Canada’s bombing efforts in Iraq and Syria would be done in conjunction with its allies and in a responsible manner. Mr Trudeau said he would discuss potential USA concerns with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an Asian summit later this week in Manila.

Trudeau has not set a timeline for the withdrawal and a few experts speculated he could wait for Canada’s military commitment to expire in March. There are 600 Canadian military personnel deployed to the Middle East, among them 69 members of a special forces unit that help train Iraqi security forces and offer strategic advice on Iraqi military operations.

Mr Trudeau’s Liberals won a majority in Parliament in October, unseating the nine-year-old government of Conservative Stephen Harper, who had emphasized national security and wanted to accept fewer refugees at a slower pace.

He said one argument for ending the mission is that the more the West gets involved in the fight, the worse it becomes.

Will Canadian forces be calling in airstrikes, which the Liberals have criticized in the past?

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is citing safety concerns for his wanting the federal government to suspend its plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by year’s end.

“I said, ‘look Canada is a country with energy resources and seasons and a climate that means that we have challenges where it would be easy for us to make excuses around not doing the kinds of things on climate change that we need to do”, he said.

Still, the previous Conservative government had been no more articulate than Mr. Trudeau in explaining the strategy and objective behind Canada’s presence in the skies of Iraq.

In his first days in office, Trudeau has reaffirmed his pledge to strengthen Canada’s military capabilities as part of a concerted drive to deepen the country’s strategic partnership with U.S. imperialism.