Defence Minister Jason Kenney has indicated the government is not ruling out taking Canada's military mission against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group beyond Iraq — to Syria and Libya.
Evan Solomon, host of CBC Radio's The House, asked Kenney about participating in missions in those countries.
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"Well, we're going to look at all of the options," Kenney said an interview broadcast Saturday.
"Obviously there are practical limits to our ability to operate around the world, but we will look at our options to see where we can have the most impact, where we're most needed," he said. "That requires ongoing consultation with our allies. We don't just decide these things unilaterally."
Christian Leuprecht, a security expert at the Royal Military College and Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., said it's not surprising Canada might explore bigger options.
"Over the decades when there has been an international concensus...Canada has made a contribution [and] that's always been with a serious capacity on the ground," he told CBC News on Saturday.
While Leuprecht acknowledges a military response could be the short-term answer, he would like to see a longer-term solution to helping out Libya.
"ISIS thrives on instability in the region and a large swath of youth in the region don't see a future for themselves," he noted. "The strategy has to be to make the countries more viable for that demographic [because] that's the demographic ISIS is after."