Bloc wants urgent debate on foreign file

[tuvor]

Quebeckers fear PM is following U.S. lead on Afghanistan and Israel, Duceppe says

STEVEN CHASE

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe is calling for an emergency debate on the direction Canada's foreign policy is taking -- including whether Ottawa should pull its troops from Afghanistan.

He said there's a growing feeling among Quebeckers that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is moving in lockstep with U.S. President George W. Bush on foreign policy, from Israel to Afghanistan.

"I think they have more and more the impression that Harper is taking the same alignment that Bush is taking, and they are firmly against that," Mr. Duceppe said in an interview as the death toll of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan reached 32.

The Bloc says the minority Conservative government's foreign-policy actions this summer -- such as strongly supporting Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon -- have broken with Canadian tradition.

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