Kenney has been a visible presence on television and radio news shows, on Twitter and in Parliament since taking over the all-important defence file six weeks ago. He has been forceful on the threat posed by ISIL, proclaiming the government’s support for the military and hammering the opposition for its views on the conflict.
Yet Kenney, one of the few ministers in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet allowed to speak freely, has also found himself clarifying or backtracking on some of his blunt assertions.
For example, earlier this week Kenney spoke to Canadian reporters by phone during a visit to Colorado Springs, Colo., home to North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). During the call, Kenney was asked about NDP leader Tom Mulcair’s concerns over expanding the war against ISIL into Syria.
“I don’t take very seriously Mr. Mulcair’s views on these matters,” Kenney said. “As you know, the NDP has opposed every single overseas military deployment in Canadian history, and so I think the position he’s taking is just remarkably predictable.”
Not quite true: The NDP initially supported Canada’s war in Libya four years ago. They voted with the Conservatives and Liberals in favour of sending fighter jets, aircraft and a naval ship to participate in the NATO mission in March 2011, and they agreed to an extension that June. They voted against a second extension in September 2011. The war ended in October.
Another example: Kenney recently defended billions of dollars in cuts to military spending by saying, for the second time in a week, that Canadian defence spending fell to an all-time low of 0.7 per cent of GDP under previous Liberal governments. Kenney first made the claim during a committee appearance on March 11.
But NATO, the World Bank and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a respected think-tank on global defence expenditures, say Canadian defence spending never fell below 1.1 per cent of GDP between 1990 and 2012. However, last year – under the Conservatives – it slipped to one per cent.
In an email, Kenney spokeswoman Lauren Armstrong said what Kenney meant during both the committee meeting and the call with reporters was that defence spending had fallen by 0.7 per cent of GDP during the previous Liberal governments, from 1.8 per cent to 1.1 per cent.
Liberal defence critic Joyce Murray isn’t buying that explanation. She said the fact Kenney repeated the claim about defence spending twice “seems to be a pretty strong indication that it’s a deliberate falsification of the truth for his own purposes.”
Armstrong would not say whether Kenney made a mistake in his comments about the NDP having never supported a Canadian military deployment. But NDP defence critic Jack Harris weighed in: “To say that the NDP never ever supported a military mission is absolutely wrong, and shows that this minister is prepared to drop the facts.
“I have a lot of respect for Mr. Kenney, but he gets himself into trouble by going over the top.”
Carleton University defence expert Stephen Saideman said the prime minister no doubt tapped Kenney to take over the defence portfolio because of the minister’s strong communication skills, “but when he does say anything, he tends to exaggerate.”
Just last week, for example, the minister tweeted a picture that, he suggested, was of Muslim women put in chains by the Islamic State (ISIL). It was actually from a ceremony that re-enacts the persecution of the prophet Muhammad’s family.
“Should the minister of National Defence not ensure that communications such as on social media are accurate?” Kenney said when confronted on the issue. “Absolutely.”
But rather than apologize, Kenney instead listed the numerous ways in which ISIL has trampled and violated the rights of women, children and religious minorities in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region.
Kenney and NATO officials were also at odds recently after the minister suggested a Russian jet had buzzed a Canadian warship in the Black Sea. NATO officials said the frigate was not buzzed and that Russian aircraft flew over the NATO maritime task force at higher altitudes. Kenney’s office stands by the minister’s comments.
“When you have the Canadian government saying we’re closer to war with the Russians than NATO suggests, that’s really surprising,” Saideman said.
Kenney also declined to explain an incident after his office was implicated in faking a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony for television when he was Immigration minister in 2011.
And he faced calls for his resignation in 2006 after telling Parliament that a memo written by bureaucrats said the previous Liberal government had broken the Access to Information law by reporting which journalists had asked for what information. The memo actually said the opposite: it stated the Liberals had not broken the law.
University of Ottawa defence expert Philippe Lagassé suggested such stumbles are being blown out of proportion, and that occasional mistakes are the price one has to pay for having a minister who, unlike most others, doesn’t “stick to the script.”
“I think what you’re seeing is not a mischaracterization, but a tendency to over-embellish,” Lagassé said.
But Kenney has been “abusing the truth for political purpose, for partisan purposes,” Murray said. “And all that it accomplishes is for his government to be even less trusted on one of Canada’s most important and significant responsibilities, which is security and defence.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: LEE BERTHIAUME
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