Another 3 months

Canada’s mission in Libya has been extended for three months by the House of Commons. The only Member of Parliament to vote against the Conservative motion was Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

Canada has nearly seven hundred people working to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya. It is part of a NATO mission to protect citizens from a bombing campaign by Moammar Gadhafi.

Numerous amendments were proposed to the government’s resolution. One of them is an increase in humanitarian aid by preventing and prosecuting rape as a tool of war. 

Defense Minister Peter Mackay said the NATO mission is weakening the infrastructure around Gadhafi. Libya’s leader of forty-one years is said to be losing support.

Mackay said withdrawing the Canadian Forces from the NATO-led mission at this point would send the wrong signal. He thinks it would have dire consequences for the citizens of Libya as well as undermining the core Canadian values of freedom, democracy and human rights. 

It has also been announced that the Canadian government is officially recognizing the National Transitional Council of Libya as the legitimate representative of Libyan citizens.