This is actually easy stuff for Mulcair. His party has a history of pacifism and has many constituents who are critical of this effort and of any Harper use of force. That he has to pander by talking about mission creep and mission leap is understandable even if it is particularly dumb rhetoric. The NDP has found its sound bite and sticking to it, even if there is little risk of mission creep. The precedents that Harper has set binds him to having another vote if infantry troops were to be sent (Besides both the imperatives of budget balancing and message managing mean that Harper has no interest in putting troops on the ground). At any point in time, Canada can say: we are out of bombs or our planes are tired or we have done our share. If Canada can leave Afghanistan early, it can certainly stop this effort when it wants. The Norwegians and Danes reduced their efforts in Libya, so this would not be anything new.