Opposition parties reject Harper’s ISIS plan, but will Canadians agree?

Opposition parties may have a tough time getting Canadians to agree with their rejection of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s motion for warplanes against ISIS, according to an expert.

Parliament is gearing up for a debate next week on Harper’s decision to send warplanes into action in Iraq.

Although the opposition will get a chance to air its views against the motion, it is still expected to pass with the Conservative majority.

Macleans Political Editor Paul Wells said the NDP and Liberals may have a hard sell because ISIS is a serious threat and the government doesn’t seem to be asking for much.

Speaking on Macleans on the Hill, Wells said the opposition has been unfairly comparing this to the previous war in Iraq.

“We’re looking at something close to 1/20 the size of the deployment that Jean Chretien sent to Afghanistan in 2002-2003 and Harper wants to ask for so little that if the opposition parties say no, they’ll come off quite chincy,” he said.

Wells added it’s not always an easy political decision to send troops to battle, but a six-month deadline may cause some problems for the government.

“Let’s assume that that six-month-window is the window that he uses if he renews, that’s a quarter of the length of the extensions of the Afghanistan mandate, those were two-year extensions,” he said. “So four times as often he’s got to go before the House of Commons and relive this cycle of drama.”

Parliament will debate and vote on a motion for the mission on Monday.