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OO RUEHBW RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHIK RUEHPOD RUEHQU RUEHVC RUEHYG
DE RUEHOT #0603 1211952
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301952Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7771
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0181

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000603 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CA AF
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON AFGHANISTAN BEGINS WORK 
 
REF: A. OTTAWA 373 
 
     ¶B. OTTAWA 521 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  PolMinCouns on April 29 met with chairman Pierre 
Lemieux (Conservative, Ontario) of the House of Commons' new 
"Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan," 
established under the terms of the March 13 bipartisan motion 
extending the mandate of the Canadian Forces in Kandahar 
until 2011 (ref a).  He congratulated Lemieux on his 
selection on April 15 by the 13 committee members, who 
include the Parliamentary Secretaries for Defence, Foreign 
Affairs, and Public Security on the Conservative side, as 
well as official "Critics" (Shadow Ministers) for Defence and 
Foreign Affairs on the Liberal side, as well as the New 
Democratic Party's critic for Defence and the Bloc Quebecois' 
critics for Defence and Foreign Affairs.  Lemieux admitted 
that it will be tricky for the Special Committee to navigate 
a useful path that does not overlap unduly with the work of 
the National Defence Committee and the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, especially given the sometimes overlapping 
memberships.  He noted, for example, that the National 
Defence Committee had already planned a trip in early summer 
to Afghanistan, and said that Special Committee members would 
have to defer their own initial travel to country of their 
exclusive focus until at least fall 2008, in order not to 
overload the people on the ground in Kandahar.  He added that 
the Special Committee's first travel would likely instead be 
to Washington sometime over the summer.  PolMinCouns offered 
to provide all possible assistance in ensuring a good program 
of meetings with the U.S. Congress as well as Administration 
officials.  Lemieux expressed warm appreciation. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Lemieux said that the Special Committee would kick 
off its substantive work with a hearing on May 1 featuring 
the new Special Representative of the UN Secretary General 
for Afghanistan Kai Eide, who is in Ottawa on April 30 and 
May 1.  (According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and 
International Trade, Eide will also meet with members of the 
new Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan, including its chairman 
Minister of International Trade David Emerson, Foreign 
Minister Maxime Bernier, Defence Minister Peter MacKay, 
Minister of Public Security Stockwell Day, and Minister of 
International Cooperation Bev Oda.)  Lemieux said that the 
Special Committee was still finalizing its plans for future 
meetings, which will thereafter take place on Wednesday 
evenings between 6:30 and 8:30, a time Lemieux said the 
Special Committee had picked explicitly to ensure a televised 
hearing room and wider coverage.  His goal is to use these 
weekly televised sessions to get as much information to the 
public as possible about what Canada and the international 
community were doing in Afghanistan and to point to progress 
on both military and developmental fronts, in order to 
counteract public doubts that the mission had any genuine 
hope of succeeding.  He noted that public pride in the 
Canadian Forces remains high, in large part due to the 
leadership of outgoing Chief of Defence Staff General Rick 
Hillier (ref b).  He expressed the hope that, as the public 
learned more about what was actually happening on the ground 
in Kandahar beyond the bad news that the media chose to 
report, overall support for the mission would increase. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Comment:  Keeping the Liberals on board in support 
of the Afghan Mission is important to the minority 
Conservative government, and the initial dynamics within the 
new Special Committee seem to bode well.  Mission Canada will 
Qnew Special Committee seem to bode well.  Mission Canada will 
work hard to maintain close and productive contacts with 
Special Committee members (the DCM will host a lunch for 
Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Bob Rae on May 13), and will 
notify the Department as soon as the Special Committee pins 
down its travel dates to Washington. 
 
Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada 
 
WILKINS