Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes part in a bilateral meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Canada will not join the United States in attacking Syria if, as looks increasingly likely, Washington seeks to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad there, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.
“The government of Canada is prepared to engage in actions against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Syria, but only as long as those are not interpreted as war against the government of Syria,” Harper said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand, where the Canadian leader repeated his demand that Assad resign.
“Because whatever objections the government of Canada has against the government of Syria, we are not interested in any war with any government in the region,” he said. “Our only military fight is with ISIL.”
The question arose after strong hints have emerged in Washington that the US was preparing to expand its war in Syria, which until now has been limited to air strikes against ISIL. The US has reportedly begun sounding out allies about joining them in this broader fight.
“The only way to get a realistic solution in Syria is some kind of political compromise between moderates elements of the opposition and moderate elements of the government’” Harper said.
“We do not think it is possible to bring together the diverse elements in Syria unless you have both sides come together in some way. That victory of one side over the other is just not a realistic or desirable outcome. And the same time we believe the fight has to be taken against ISIL and other extremists who threaten Canada and other western countries.”
The Harper government chose not to have its six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets drops bombs on ISIL targets in Syria when they were dispatched to Kuwait from Alberta last month. Until now Ottawa has only authorized its pilots to wage war against ISIL in Iraq.
The war on terror in Syria and Iraq will undoubtedly come up during the G-20 leaders’ summit, which begins Saturday in Brisbane, Australia. But with Russian Vladimir Putin in attendance, western leaders will likely be angry over what NATO is calling another major Russian military incursion into eastern Ukraine.
That action has been further complicated by the presence of several Russian warships north of Australia in the Coral Sea.
“The far greater concern is the continued penetration of a Russian presence in eastern Ukraine and obvious actions designed to provoke violence,” Harper said. “That is a great concern to us. Whether it takes five months or 50 years, the government of Canada will never accept the illegal annexation or occupation of Ukrainian territory to Russia.”
Russian military adventurism in Eastern Europe was “a very challenging issue for everyone,” said New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key.
“The situation that is developing in Ukraine is detrimental and could have widespread repercussions globally.”
As for those Russian warships, which have never operated in waters this far south before, the Kiwi leader cautioned that they were in international waters and that there was no need to overreact.
“It is one of those things where it is what it is, I guess, and of itself of no great consequence, really,” he said.
Harper sidestepped a question about whether Canada would soon match much tougher new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions agreed to by US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Beijing.
“I think that it is a very positive thing,” Harper said of the unexpected accord. “We have been saying for some time that we favour an international agreement that would include all major emitters. China and the United States together are one and two, making up nearly 40 per cent of the world’s greenhouse emissions.
“It has always been my view that they have to be involved in an agreement, but that such an agreement is only possible, and will be essentially done, if they both go to the table, as they appear to be doing.”
The Canadian leader lauded the G-20’s Australian host, Prime Minister Toby Abbott, for focusing on the economy at the summit, which was its original purpose. Matters such as GHG emissions were better addressed at the United Nations, Harper said.
Harper said he does not “see a relationship here” between the unexpected Sino-American environmental accord and the long-pending decision by the White House on the Keystone XL pipeline, would bring heavy crude from Alberta’s tar sands to Louisiana
“But it is very clear that it is in the economic and job-creation interests of our country,” Harper said. “It is in the energy security interest of the countries of North America and it is clear from an environmental protection point of view that the alternatives.”
The Keystone pipeline may be approved in a vote in the US Congress next week, but there are indications that Obama, who has dithered over the question for several years, may veto it.
Earlier Friday, Harper and his wife Laureen rubbed noses with Maori elders Friday at the Governor-General of New Zealand’s residence in Auckland, in a ceremony that blended native and British traditions.
Before the playing of O Canada, Harper was challenged with a dart thrown at his feet during a haka war dance. By picking the dart up from the lawn the Canadian leader indicated that he came to New Zealand in peace.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper performs the hongi with a Maori as he is greeted at Government House in Auckland, New Zealand Thursday November 13, 2014. The hongi is a traditional Maori greeting involving the clasping of hands and pressing of noses. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Harper also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at New Zealand’s war memorial, recalling this country’s out-sized contribution to the allied cause during two world wars.
About 18,000 New Zealanders died and 45,000 were wounded during the First World War when 100,000 young men and women in a country of only one million people served in Europe and the Middle East. Nearly 12,000 New Zealanders died in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia during the Second World War.
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