PETERBOROUGH—New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair says continued warfare in the Middle East is a bigger threat to Canadian security than the so-called Islamic State that has seized and brutalized much of Syria and Iraq.

“I know what poses a threat to Canada and Canadians: it’s continued war in a region that’s known almost nothing but for 35 years,” Mulcair told CBC News in an interview with Peter Mansbridge televised Wednesday night.

“Everything has flowed from that — all the horrors, and I’m not trying to understate them, that we’re seeing, flow from that,” Mulcair says. “So, I think that the best thing for Canada to do is to start playing a positive role for peace and that would be a top priority for me as the prime minister of Canada.”

The NDP voted against Canadian involvement in the coalition mission in Iraq and then its expansion involving air strikes in Syria against the Islamic State, more commonly known by the acronyms ISIS, or ISIL.

Mulcair reiterated a pledge to withdraw the Canadian military immediately if his party is elected government in the Oct. 19 federal election.

“We will immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq and, to the extent that they are doing some bombing in Syria, from Syria,” Mulcair told Mansbridge.

Hoping that growing anti-Conservative sentiment works in their favour come Oct. 19, the NDP is campaigning on a message of bringing change to Ottawa.

Mulcair said changes the NDP would bring about immediately would be to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this year, which the party has said would cost $74 million.

The NDP leader said the other thing he’d do right away is appoint a cabinet minister responsible for the NDP pledge to create a national daycare plan, which would see one million childcare spaces costing no more than $15-a-day within eight years.

Mulcair said Canadians could also expect an NDP government to have a different “attitude” on the world stage, beginning with the United Nations Conference on Climate Change to be held in Paris Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

“I’d love nothing more than to go to Paris at the Conference of the Parties in December and get Canada on track. Start working with the world and stop working against the planet. That will be the most important conference on climate change since the signature of Kyoto,” Mulcair said in the interview.

There are also some things the Conservative government brought in that Mulcair said he would not touch, including the monthly Universal Child Care Benefit payments.

“It stays because it’s taxable. And high-end earners pay most of it back in taxes but almost all of it flows into the pockets of people on the lower end of the spectrum and that’s a good thing,” said Mulcair.

He also pledged not to increase the GST.

“We believe in reducing inequality in our society and that type of tax is very regressive. It hurts poor people the most and we would not go there,” said Mulcair.

Mulcair also said that while the NDP still wants to repeal the Clarity Act and replace it with legislation that would recognize a simple majority of 50 per cent plus one in a Quebec referendum on sovereignty as enough to trigger secession talks, he does not view it as a top priority.

“Canadians know this about me, that I was there fighting for our country, fighting against the separatists in the 1980 referendum. I fought in the 1995 referendum. I was there in the front trenches of the national assembly for almost 15 years doing my job of standing up for Quebecers but also standing up for a united Canada. And I’ve been consistent in that,” Mulcair said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“So the only people who are raising this right now that I know of are (Bloc Québécois Leader) Gilles Duceppe and (Liberal Leader) Justin Trudeau.”

The NDP leader also said that while he remains open to a coalition with the Liberals if it meant keeping the Conservatives out of power, Trudeau has “slammed the door shut” on the option.

“Every time I’ve opened the door with the current Liberals, Mr. Trudeau has personally slammed it. He’s gone so far as to say that he could work with the NDP but he can’t work with me. My priority is to get rid of Stephen Harper. Apparently, Justin Trudeau’s priority is to get rid of me,” Mulcair said.

Read more about: