Prime Minister Stephen Harper is obviously hoping to "defang" the Afghanistan issue with his new panel, said Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae.
"I don't think frankly that's possible. The issue is much too alive for Canadians, much to important to Canadians, to simply say we're going to let five individuals go off in a corner and tell us what to do," he told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.
The panel has to be part of a broader discussion, he said.
For the Liberals, the important things are that an exclusively military solution isn't possible in Afghanistan, and that Canada remain engaged there, Rae said.
Many Liberals were surprised Friday, when Harper appointed former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley as chair of the five-member panel.
"That's Mr. Manley's choice," Rae said, sidestepping questions about whether some Liberals saw Manley's action as providing political cover for Harper.
"Imagine if he was not there," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said of Manley in a separate Question Period interview.
"All the others -- three out of four -- have strong connections to Mr. (former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian) Mulroney," he said.
The other panel members are:
- Derek Burney, Canada's former ambassador to Washington and former chief of staff
to Mulroney - Broadcaster Pamela Wallin, who was Canadian consul general in New York
- Former Mulroney-era Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Jake Epp
- Paul Tellier, former Clerk of the Privy Council during the Mulroney era and former president and CEO of Canadian National Railway and Bombardier
"All of them have no understanding at all of Afghanistan," Dion said, adding while those four were honourable Canadians, they are better known for their connections to the United States.
The panel has four options to consider before it is scheduled to report at the end of January:
- Option One -- continue training the Afghan army and police with the goal of creating a self-sufficient indigenous security force in Kandahar province so that Canadian troops can withdraw in February 2009
- Option Two -- focus on reconstruction work in Kandahar, which would require other countries to take over security role
- Option Three -- shift Canadian security and reconstruction efforts to another region in Afghanistan
- Option Four -- withdraw all Canadian military forces after February 2009 except for small contingent to provide security for aid workers and diplomats
Rae said the Liberal party would be putting forward its own option to the people of Canada, "whether it's in an election campaign or in Parliament."
Industry Minister Jim Prentice told Question Period that the panel's appointment "is an attempt to have a reasoned, thoughtful, non-partisan discussion about the options available to us in Afghanistan.
"There's been no attempt to put the Liberals into an impossible position. The Liberals, led by Mr. Dion, find impossible positions all by themselves," he said.
