Canada’s military chief says allies to talk defending Gulf states from Iran

Canada’s defence chief Gen. Jennie Carignan said allies are in talks about possibly helping Persian Gulf states defend themselves against bombing from Iran.

Speaking to reporters at a defence and security conference in Ottawa Thursday, Carignan said a meeting is set for early Friday morning to discuss such a proposal among allied militaries and the Canadian Armed Forces would present a recommendation to the government.

“The Gulf states must also indicate what they need,” Carignan said in French. “We are in communication with them to get an idea of the needs because it’s clear that if they don’t need us… we won’t look at options to support them.”

She did not specify what type of support this might involve but said Canada is not taking part in the U.S. bombing of Iran.

“We are not talking about participating (in) Epic Fury, per se,” she said. “This is not a mission that we are considering. However, our Gulf partners may require defence and support, so, within that context, these would be the types of military options that we could consider.”

The Canadian Press requested comment from the Prime Minister’s Office, but was referred to National Defence.

Carignan’s comments come as the Conservatives call for a parliamentary debate before any sort of Canadian military deployment in the ongoing war.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Australia Thursday — Wednesday in Canada — that Canada can’t “categorically” rule out military participation in the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

He added that Canada’s potential future involvement is a “fundamental hypothetical” and that Ottawa will stand by its allies.

The Conservatives are calling for a parliamentary debate before any sort of Canadian military deployment to the ongoing war in Iran.

“It should be up to Parliament itself to say yea or nay on whether or not we’re ever going to be deploying our troops into a conflict,” Conservative defence critic James Bezan told reporters on Thursday in Ottawa. “Let’s have the conversation where it should be, in public so there’s transparency, in the House of Commons.”

The prime minister originally expressed unequivocal support for the U.S. commencing airstrikes on Iran last weekend — then said later he did so with “regret” because the bombing campaign seems inconsistent with international law.

Bezan argued those shifts make no sense — and neither does Ottawa’s insistence on a diplomatic solution to end the airstrikes it had endorsed.

The MP overseeing defence procurement, Stephen Fuhr, said he had not been part of discussions on any possible military involvement in Iran.

“The region’s very unstable and there’s a conflict going on there, so Canada will make a decision on what that looks like for Canada,” he told reporters.

Lt.-Gen. Steve Boivin, commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command, told reporters at a defence and security conference in Ottawa Thursday that there are about 200 Armed Forces members deployed to the Middle East on six operations.

Boivin disclosed the number after Defence Minister David McGuinty and his department refused to offer a figure earlier in the week.

Some of those troops have been moved to another country in the region, Boivin said, and some have been brought back to Canada since the war broke out.

Canadian Joint Operations Command is the unit that would be called upon to help the federal government in the event of an evacuation or assisted departure of citizens in the area.

Boivin said there are no Canadian Navy vessels or Air Force planes in the region to help with such a mission at this time. He said the military is in the process of sending six liaison officers to the Middle East in case it is asked to help.

Global Affairs Canada said in a statement Thursday evening that, as of March 5, more than 107,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents were registered in the Middle East.

It said the number of people in its voluntary Registration of Canadian Abroad system is not reflective of the exact number of Canadians in a certain country nor does it reflect whether or not they actually wish to leave.

The statement said Global Affairs Canada is working on “a range of options” to support the potential departure of Canadians from several countries in the Middle East, by both land and air, “where conditions allow  and when it is safe to do so.”

The department said it’s working to secure charter flights or seats on commercial flights for Canadians in the region, to be made available in the coming days.

“This will be dependent on the security situation, including viability of the airspace,” the statement read.

— With files from Sarah Ritchie and Catherine Morrison