O'Connor envisions conflict lasting 15 years

BRIAN LAGHI OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF Globe and mail

Canada needed to acquire 120 new tanks to deal with another 10 to 15 years of conflicts in Afghanistan and other countries, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said yesterday, amid opposition concerns that the war is escalating. "Afghanistan and these type of engagements are the future for 10, 15 years," Mr. O'Connor told CTV's current affairs program Question Period. "And we have to be prepared when governments -- our government and future governments -- commit soldiers to offshore activities, they're going to have to be equipped with armour to protect their lives." The government announced Thursday that it would spend $650-million to buy 100 secondhand tanks from the Netherlands and lease another 20 from Germany.

The German tanks will be dispatched to Afghanistan this summer, to complement 17 Leopard 1 tanks that are not air-conditioned and will be difficult to operate in 60-degree heat. But the Dutch tanks won't be refurbished until 2008, months before the Canadian mission is due to end in February, 2009. Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre said the tank and other military purchases have convinced him that the Conservative government plans to extend the mission. "This is an escalation," he said.

NDP defence critic Dawn Black agreed: "Obviously this mission is escalating, not only in terms of the kinds of equipment we're sending over there and the purchases we're making . . . but also in terms of human life," she said, referring to the 53 Canadian soldiers killed. But Mr. O'Connor said the new complement of tanks is simply replacing the current aging squadron. "I don't see us escalating anything," he said yesterday.