Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he could not rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East, after earlier saying that the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”.

Speaking alongside Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Thursday, Carney was asked whether there was a situation in which Canada would get involved.

“One can never categorically rule out participation,” Carney said, noting the question was “hypothetical”.

“We will stand by our allies,” he said, adding that “we will always defend Canadians”.

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[–] 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 child)

The full quote gives a different impression.

"You've said that Canada will not participate in US military action in Iran. So can you definitively say that will remain the case, even if hostilities broaden, escalate or are prolonged?"

"You've asked a fundamental hypothetical in a conflict that can spread very broadly, todays events or recent events point to that, so one can never categorically rule out participation, we will stand by our allies when it makes sense. There's a distinction between the offensive actions that were taken and are being taken by the United States and Israel, that were taken by them without consultation with Canada or with other allies, and we are not party to those actions. But we will always defend Canadians, we will always defend and stand by our allies when called upon"

It’s rare enough for politicians to even give context to their statements and then when they do it gets clipped and simplified into a different meaning. Aljazeera should know better which is pretty disappointing.

Also, most of you just read headlines which doesn’t do you any favours. There are real things to criticize about Carney, these sort of qualified statements shouldn’t be one of them. If all we do is look for binary no-context answers from our representatives, we’re already doomed.

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  • [–] 13 points 8 months ago

    Misleading headline. Canada will stand up for NATO, if this war ends up affecting NATO allies, and they invoke article 5, Canada’s involved.

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  • [–] 15 points 8 months ago (9 children)

    But why should they go to war with Iran?

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  • [–] 13 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    If Iran attacks another NATO member directly, then article 5 would require that Canada comes to their defense.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Article 5 doesn't force a member to partake in a counter attack, just "such action as it deems necessary".

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago

    This. It doesn’t mean Canada’s getting involved in this war of aggression as it currently is. But if it expands to involve NATO countries, we will support our allies. The world is basically 1 step away from WWIII.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago*

    Ah okay sure. But I guess iran will not really attack turkey, I don't think they have the capabilities. Maybe a few missiles which will be intercepted. But nothing more. I guess....

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago

    If Canada plays any role, it should be burning the White House again.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago

    The whole globe is unable to rule out anything right now.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    If you don’t like this answer, please consider all the times you heard a politician promise something only to renege later. There are of course hypothetical scenarios where Canada would get involved (Iran directly attacking a NATO member other than the US is an example, depending on the scale), but that doesn’t mean that Canada supports the US in starting the war.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago

    Yeah, it was a ridiculous question in the first place. Asking someone to speculate about every single possible future scenario that could ever be imagined is pointless and stupid. Carney gave the only reasonable answer possible under the circumstances.

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  • [–] 13 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    I am embarrassed to be Canadian right now. Seems that speech he gave in Davos was all BS.

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    [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    The orange clown has been spitting in your face for a year now. For the love of god why?

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