Parliament has already decided the combat mission, involving about 2,500 troops centred around Kandahar, will end in 2011. The Department of National Defence has started preparing plans to bring the soldiers home.

But at various times over the past two years since that decision was made, there has been some discussion about using Canadian Forces personnel in a non-combat capacity or to station soldiers in a more peaceful part of the country.

Harper ruled out such a possibility.

“We will not be undertaking any kind of activity that requires a significant military force protection, so it will become a strictly civilian mission.

“We will continue to maintain humanitarian and development missions, as well as important diplomatic activity in Afghanistan. But we will not be undertaking any activities that require any kind of military presence, other than the odd guard guarding an embassy.”

Harper also said Canada and its NATO allies have lowered their objectives for the mission in Afghanistan.

“I think the reality is that all actors over the past few years have been downgrading their expectations of what can be achieved in Afghanistan,” Harper said.

“But it is still important that we have a viable, functioning state in Afghanistan that has some acceptable democratic and rule of law norms. If we don’t, we run the serious risk of returning in Afghanistan to what we had before. No matter what differences people have on the mission, everybody agrees that the mission has the purpose to ensure that Afghanistan does not return to being a failed state that is an incubator of terrorism.”

Since Canada established its military presence in Afghanistan in 2002, 138 soldiers have died there. Most recently, on Dec. 30, four soldiers and a journalist — the Calgary Herald’s Michelle Lang — died when their armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device four kilometres south of Kandahar city.

The mission has also claimed the lives of a Canadian diplomat and two aid workers.

Harper said there are still outstanding questions to be resolved about the role and purpose of Canadian aid officials and Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan after 2011.

“We have been working on those answers but the bottom line is that the military mission will end in 2011,” said the prime minister.

Harper also doused speculation he’s gunning for a general election soon.

“I have no desire to have a spring election and I don’t think anybody does. I certainly don’t think the public does,” he said.

Harper has made those kinds of statements before, though. In the fall of 2008, he went against the spirit of his own fixed election date law and asked Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to dissolve Parliament, saying that the opposition parties were blocking any advance of his government’s agenda.

But when asked to assure Canadians that, so long as this spring’s budget gets the support of the House of Commons, he would not force an election, Harper said neither his party nor, he believes, the opposition parties want a campaign this spring.

“Canadians have given us a mandate — it is a minority mandate –we know we have to work in that context and we will continue to try to do so,” Harper said.

Parliament stands prorogued, or suspended, until March 3, when MPs will be recalled to hear a speech from the throne — Harper’s fifth since taking office in 2006 — which will be followed the next day by a federal budget.

The Commons votes on both the throne speech and the budget. The budget vote is always a matter of confidence and the vote on the speech from the throne is usually a matter of confidence as well. If the government loses a confidence vote at any time, a general election is the result. If not, the next fixed date for a federal election is in the fall of 2012.

Harper said both the budget and the throne speech will demonstrate his government’s commitment to follow through on the second and final year of its economic action plan, spending billions more to fight the lingering effects of the recession.

But he said both documents will also lay out some of the things his government will aim to do next year, once the stimulus spending plan is over, to deal with a significant budgetary deficit.

“We do have to cast our minds in terms of the economy, in terms of our budget, to tackling the deficit,” Harper said. “That will obviously be the next phase to ensure that the extraordinary measures we’ve had to undertake don’t result in a permanent deficits. Our focus will start to be on exit strategies from the extraordinary fiscal measures we’ve undertaken.”

The deficit this year will top $55 billion and is forecast at more than $45 billion for the fiscal year ending March 30, 2011.

Asked if he will announce new spending restraint programs in this budget, Harper declined to speculate, but said he had given each of his ministers new “comprehensive mandate letters” over the Christmas break instructing each to re-examine their priorities given the fact that resources will be limited.

“We’ll be talking about . . . how to continue to advance key economic priorities in a period of constrained spending growth which we will need to see in the next few years,” Harper said. “We still have to be able to advance key files that will continue to build the strength of the Canadian economy.”

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1. Questions remain about post-2011 Afghan cop training
2. RCMP tries to figure out post-2011 Afghan role
3. Military studies what to keep, toss out, as pullout approaches

Controversial passenger profiling techniques could be used in response to the attempted Detroit plane bombing, the Home Secretary has announced.

Alan Johnson said he was looking at whether ”additional targeted profiling” was needed to beef up airport security.

Passengers could be searched according to their race, ethnic background, age and gender, a decision that is likely to face opposition from civil rights groups. Announcing a series of new security measures, Mr Johnson warned passengers would face further delays as more were searched before they board planes.

As well as body scanners, which will be brought in at Heathrow by the end of this month, passengers will see more sniffer dogs.

By the end of the year all British airports will be required to have trace equipment in place to detect explosives in the air.

In a House of Commons statement, Mr Johnson accepted no one technology would be ”100% effective”.

He acknowledged there were civil liberties concerns about profiling, but said ministers also had an ”overriding obligation” to protect lives.

”We are examining carefully whether additional targeted passenger profiling might help to enhance airport security,” Mr Johnson said.

”We will be considering all the issues involved, mindful of civil liberties concerns, aware that identity based profiling has its limitations, but conscious of our overriding obligations to protect peoples’ life and liberty.”

He added: ”It is clear that no one measure will be enough to defeat inventive and determined terrorists and there is no single technology which we can guarantee will be 100% effective against such attacks.”

Mr Johnson addressed MPs returning to Parliament for the first time since the attempted bombing on Christmas Day.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a former student at University College London, attempted to ignite explosives packed in his underwear as the plane made its final descent to Detroit.

Mr Johnson said the system “hadn’t failed” but the Government wanted to see if it could be strengthened.

Mr Johnson said: “It is clear that no one measure will be enough to defeat inventive and determined terrorists and there is no single technology which we can guarantee will be 100% effective against such attacks.”

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2. Bomb bid suspect was banned from UK
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Ok. Tell me when this will happen. As usual where politicians are concered its all “Talk Talk”.

First Published: 7:13AM GMT 28 Oct 2008

Foreign-born “preachers of hate” will have to publicly renounce their views or be barred from the UK, under new plans to be unveiled by the Government.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is to announce a package of measures aimed at making it harder for extremists to enter the country.

The new rules will also affect anyone suspected of advocating illegal action to stir up tensions, including anti-abortionists, far-right groups and animal rights activists. It is expected that foreign-born extremists will be forced to retract controversial statements, and will have to refute specific allegations made against them.

Currently, the burden of proof lies with the authorities, who must show that alleged extremists still hold the views ascribed to them.

Those accused of advocating illegal action may also have to make a public statement of their support for democracy if they want to stay in Britain.

The new rules are also set to hand new powers to the Home Office to name people blocked from entering Britain and share their details with other countries. Currently individuals involved are guaranteed anonymity unless they choose to go public and fight their ban.

On Monday, Miss Smith said the Government planned to “name and shame” some extremists banned from entering the UK.

“Where it is in our interest we will name these people,” the Home Secretary told MPs in the House of Commons.

“Coming to the UK is a privilege, and I don’t want to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life.”

In the past three years, 230 people have been barred from entering the country on grounds of national security and for “unacceptable behaviour” – including inciting hatred and stirring up or glorifying terrorism.

Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical Muslim cleric, was banned following the terrorist attacks against London in July 2005, on the grounds that his presence was “not conducive to the public good”.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egypt-born preacher described as “dangerous and divisive” by David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was banned earlier this year.

The Liberal Democrats described the plans as inadequate and warned that they would not deal with the problem of advocates of illegal extremism already living here.

Chris Huhne, the party’s home affairs spokesman, said: “The main problem with these sort of eye-catching gimmicks is they don’t make us any safer at all. What we’re looking for is delivery.

“[The plan] doesn’t deal with the people who are already here or indeed the people who are preaching hate over the internet,” Mr Huhne said.

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