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The Conservatives want to spend $9 million over three years on the project through a fund overseen by the Office of Religious Freedom that the Conservatives created in 2013. The proposal would boost the office’s budget by 60 per cent.

Various groups — including the U.S. military and militias fighting ISIL — have tried with varying levels of success to protect religious shrines, buildings and monuments. Harper didn’t identify any one particular artifact or building the money being pledged would have saved.

He said groups working on the ground to protect these spots work in “very precarious” situations.

“They have very little funding so we think it will help them significantly.”

The announcement was the second in two days that touched on foreign policy. On Sunday, Harper vowed that if re-elected, the Conservatives would make it illegal to travel to areas where terrorist groups operate, unless a Canadian was going there to work for a humanitarian group or a news media outlet.

On Monday, he said the proposed law would apply to “areas that are clearly under the control of terrorist organizations,” saying that would apply to a “very small number of areas in the world,” including parts of Iraq and Syria.

They have very little funding so we think it will help them significantly

“Frankly, these are not areas where families go. These are areas where we know why people are really going: they are going for terrorist training,” Harper said.

He also took aim at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who urged the prime minister to answer more questions about taking away the rights of Canadians.

Harper repeated his line from Sunday that Canada has no “human right to travel and visit (ISIL),” arguing that Trudeau was “offside” with the will of Canadians.

Later Monday, Harper and his family went to a South Asian clothing and gift store in the east Toronto suburb of Scarborough, where they looked over bracelets and materials for a sari.

At one point, Laureen Harper appeared to have found something she liked, and then she was told it carried a steep price. “No wonder I like it,” she joked.