Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion again urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to commit to a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2009 and to notify NATO and participating countries of that plan so they can find a replacement.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion on Thursday. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion on Thursday.
(CBC)
Parliament had approved the mission until February 2009. If the Conservative government doesn't commit to end the deployment at that time, Dion said he will make the issue the Liberal's first motion when Parliament reconvenes on Sept. 17.

"We'll do that as our first gesture in the public," Dion said at a news conference following the party's caucus retreat in St. John's, where members have been plotting strategy for Parliament's fall session.

Dion said he won't make it a confidence vote, but that there may "come a time we'll not be able to keep this government alive."

The Liberals have said the government may be planning to extend the mission because it is buying military equipment, including some equipment that may not be ready until after combat operations in Afghanistan are scheduled to end.

Other opposition leaders have also been calling for the government to firmly commit to the withdrawal date.

Earlier in August, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe vowed in the wake of the deaths of three Quebec-based soldiers to bring down the government if it does not commit to a full troop withdrawal in 2009.

Duceppe also said if Harper does not soon notify NATO of Canada's plans, the Bloc will vote against the expected autumn throne speech with the hopes of bringing the government down. Duceppe would need the Liberals to vote with his party in order to succeed.

NDP Leader Jack Layton has been calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops.

In April, a Liberal motion to end Canadian combat operations in southern Afghanistan by February 2009 was defeated in the House of Commons.

Canada has more than 2,500 soldiers serving in the NATO-led international deployment in Afghanistan. Sixty-nine soldiers and one diplomat have died since the mission began in early 2002.