Angry in the Great White North

Conservative MP Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, speaks to reporters about Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's suggestion that NATO abandon Afghanistan and invade Pakistan instead. Jason Kenney also speaks to Liberal attempts to persuade Canadians that Stephane Dion was misquoted or misunderstood.  Somehow Jason Kenney manages to speak with reporters and answer questions for over six minutes straight without tripping up and suggesting Canada invade anyone, so I am not inclined to cut Stephane Dion too much slack.

In any case, I've written out a transcript of the entire exchange.  If you prefer, you can listen to the audio, located below the transcript.

There really isn't much more to add.  Jason Kenney says it all.

[Jason Kenney] ...the ridiculous remarks by Liberal leader Stephane Dion yesterday regarding Pakistan.  Mr Dion is somebody who supported massive multi-billion dollar cuts to our military in the 1990s.  He has been opposing the United Nations/NATO mission to bring security and peace to Afghanistan.  But now, all of a sudden, he seems to be talking about NATO forces effectively invading Pakistan against the will of the Pakistani government.

This is a man who clearly doesn't have any idea of what he's talking about when it comes to foreign policy or security policy, who's not up to the job of prime minister and who quite frankly I think would represent a risk.

If these kinds of comments were made by a prime minister of Canada, they would be regarded as hostile at worst, and undiplomatic at best, by the Pakistani government.  This shows that Mr Dion is simply demonstrating that his foreign policy is total amateur hour.  He's making it up as he goes along.

He wants Canadian troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, but he wants other NATO forces to go into Pakistan against the will of that government.

Once more this demonstrates that Stephane Dion is a weak leader.  If he were ever to be in control of Canadian foreign and security policy, he would represent a risk to Canada, to Canadians, and our reputation abroad, and I think there is an urgent need for him, personally, to clarify his remarks which implied clearly a NATO intervention against the wishes of the Pakistani government.

[reporter] Do you feel that his comments as an opposition leader hold any weight internationally?

[jk] Some weight. I mean, he doesn't speak for Canada, but this is a story that I suspect will be covered in the region, in Pakistan, and will demonstrate that there is an important political leader in Canada who doesn't know what he's talking about. He's making it up as he goes along.

This is a G8 country.  Sometime aspiring to be prime minister cannot just speak off the top of his head, and speculate about effectively invading another country, particularly when there's no international consensus to do so or United Nations mandate.

It's just bizarre.  There is a United Nations mandate to do what we are doing in Afghanistan, to try to bring security, peace, and development.  And yes, we need the cooperation of the Pakistani government in an ongoing basis to help with the border issues.

But to wildly speculate about, quote, a NATO intervention in Afghanistan [ed, Jason Kenney means Pakistan here] ? This completely contradicts everything he has ever said about the mission in Afghanistan, where he thinks it's too focused on the military, and too, quote, hostile.  Yet he wants to end that mission in order to start another one in a country without any international mandate.  This is a shocking faux pas on the part of Mr Dion and I think just demonstrates to Canadians why he's not ready for the big job.

[reporter] Denis Codere is saying that, well, he didn't mean military intervention, he meant diplomatic means.

[jk] Listen, NATO is not a diplomatic force, the United Nations is.  NATO is a military alliance.  NATO doesn't provide diplomats, it provides troops.  So when you talk about a NATO intervention, you are clearly and explicitly talking about a military intervention.

Or perhaps he just doesn't know what NATO is.  Maybe that's even scarier that someone who wants to be prime minister of Canada doesn't even understand what NATO does.  Perhaps that explains why he doesn't support the NATO mission in Afghanistan, operating under a UN umbrella, of which our troops are a critical part.

[reporter] Do you believe he needs to retract what he said, or simply clarify it?

[jk] Well, I think he absolutely needs to not send out his third-hand spokespeople.  He needs to personally step up to the plate and say he made mistake and retract it. 

Or perhaps confirm what he believes.  Perhaps he actually does believe that NATO troops should invade Pakistan against the wishes of that government.  He needs to clarify because right now what we've got is a guy who wants be the leader of a G8 country who is using language which is profoundly irresponsible, and could do damage to Canada's reputation.

[reporter] Does your government have a concern with Pakistan and the situation there, with Talibans may be sneaking over the border there?

[jk] Obviously, and we've expressed that publicly and directly to the Pakistani government at many occasions.  In fact, Prime Minister Harper's very first visit to a foreign country was to Pakistan in March of 2006 when he was en route to Afghanistan, and so his very first high-level foreign intervention was to encourage the Pakistani government to be more cooperative on the border security issue.  Obviously, Pakistan has a lot of problems, and I think all NATO allies believe they could and should do more, but we should also recognize that hundreds of Pakistani troops have lost their lives, as recently as this week, in the fight against the Taliban and other extremists.  So they've made real sacrifices, and I think Mr Dion has just unnecessarily insulted the force, the people, and the government of Pakistan.

Thank you.

Jason Kenney speaks to reporters about Stephane Dion's suggestion that NATO invade Pakistan: