Afstan tipping point: Québec?

Québec may well decide the future of our mission :

Quebec-based troops poised to deploy to Afghanistan will be targeted by Taliban insurgents who want to cause casualties and erode public support for the mission in Canada, a noted historian says.

But the defence department wants to shore up wobbly public support in Quebec before their deployment, with plans for a goodwill blitz in the province that includes feting them in a parade and having them appear at a CFL football game...

Historian Jack Granatstein said insurgents know that opinion in Canada is split and will try to capitalize on that as more than 2,000 troops from CFB Valcartier, near Quebec City, begin to deploy over the coming months.

"I fully expect the Taliban to target the Van Doos," he said yesterday in an interview, referring to the famed Royal 22nd Regiment.

"I think (the Van Doos are) going to do very well militarily but I think they will take casualties and that's the difficulty."..

By September, the Quebec-based troops will have arrived on the front lines in Kandahar, marking the first time they have gone to the region as a battle group. At the heart of the deployment are close to 1,000 soldiers from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Van Doos...

We also have a despicable enemy within:

Quebec-based anti-war activists are sending individual letters to 3,000 Canadian military families urging soldiers to refuse their upcoming deployment.