Video: More Canadian War Casualties

Via CBC News:



The names of the dead soldiers have now been released: Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier and Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne

Check out CBC's site for video of an interview with a visibly shaken Patrice Roy.

Meanwhile, this headline: Government will fall if Afghan mission doesn't end in 2009, Bloc warns.

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe vowed Thursday — in the wake of the deaths of three Quebec-based soldiers this week — to bring down the Conservative government if it does not commit to a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2009.

He said if Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not soon notify NATO and participating countries of Canada's withdrawal plans, the Bloc will vote against the expected autumn throne speech with the hopes of bringing the government down.

Duceppe would need the Liberals to vote with his party in order to succeed.

During a Thursday press conference on climate change, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion would not comment about banding with the Bloc.

"I am not here to make threats about that," he said. "I don't want to play politics on the back of the victims."

Duceppe called for an emergency debate on the Afghan mission when Parliament reconvenes on Sept. 17.

Dion, jockeying for position, added:

"Why does Mr. Duceppe want to wait until October? I'm asking the prime minister to notify NATO, the government of Afghanistan that the combat mission in Afghanistan will end in February 2009," Dion said. "Let's do it today. Why wait until October?"

Look, Stephane - you and Gilles need to get together, stop the egotistical bullshit, and come up with a plan to get Canadian troops out of there. Period. The sooner they come home, the better. If you guys actually had any cajones, you'd start calling for a troop withdrawal now - not in 2009. How many more soldiers will have to die while you wait this out? That's the bottom line.
 

A PR Stumble by Harper

You would think that Steve would be extremely careful about how he talks about Canada's Afghanistan war casualties, considering that he seems to think his government just has a "communications" problem (ie. the propaganda just isn't working) when it comes to boosting support for the war. (It's a bit more complicated than that, Steve.)

But today, during his SPP press conference with Bush and Calderon, when Harper was asked about the war he made reference to Pte. Simon Longtin "the first member of Quebec's Van Doos regiment to be killed in Afghanistan" and said, "I note the death obviously...of a...of a Canadian soldier...Longtin, I think was the name". (G & M video at the 45:18 mark)

Frankly, if I was a Longtin family member, friend or military colleague, I would be personally offended that our prime minister would be so blasé about his name. Add to that the massive opposition to the war in Quebec and the fact that Steve is now trying to do whatever he can to gain support in that province and those 5 words speak volumes about his detached attitude. There's simply no excuse for not being sure about the name of a Quebecois soldier who just lost his life in this war that Harper and his cronies continue to pimp.