HALIFAX - The father of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan last year wants federal Liberal Leader Stephane Dion to support extending Canada's mission in the troubled country until it can stand on its own.
Jim Davis, whose son Cpl. Paul Davis died when his light armoured vehicle rolled over during a patrol in Kandahar in March 2006, said Wednesday he's convinced the Taliban will return to power if Canada doesn't stay the course past 2009.
"It's difficult to set a target,'' he told reporters during Dion's campaign-style town hall meeting in Halifax.
"That would be like in the Second World War saying we're going to come home in 1941. If we had done that where would we be today?''
Davis told Dion before an audience of nearly 200 people that he believed that good work and progress is being made in Afghanistan.
"If the prime minister were able to get more information out to the people of this country, so that we can see the accomplishments we are making, would your position on the deadline of 2009 change?'' he asked the politician, who wants Canada to leave Afghanistan by February 2009.
But the Liberal leader, who opposed the original extension of the mission from 2007 to 2009, stuck to his position that Canada should notify NATO immediately that it intends to end its combat commitment by the deadline in order to give replacement countries adequate time to prepare.
"The more we wait, the more the time for the proper replacements will be short,'' Dion told the audience.
"Canada will continue to be a good partner for the world and may have a role in Afghanistan. ... We will be there for the training, the reconstruction and for diplomatic reasons.''
Dion emphasized that it's possible to oppose the government's policy on Afghanistan while supporting the troops.
"It's only the prime minister who made it an issue, who said if you don't support the mission my way you don't support the troops,'' Dion said. "This is what President Bush did in the United States about Iraq, that same approach, and this is wrong.''
Davis, a resident of Bridgewater N.S., has been an advocate for the Afghan mission since being thrust into the public eye with the death of his son.
He has spoken out on several occasions, criticizing the Conservative government when it considered banning media coverage of the return of Canada's war dead in 2006.
Davis also criticized NDP Leader Jack Layton when he called for an immediate end to Canada's commitment later that year.
Davis, who has worked for the provincial wing of the federal Liberal party, said he still supports Dion as the "right man to be prime minister,'' but added he will try to change the politician's mind about Afghanistan.
"I know what Mr. Dion is speaking about. We can't carry this weight on our shoulders continuously. ... Other countries within NATO have to step up and share the workload,'' he said.
