Canadian government is divided on war

OTTAWA, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented a motion this week calling for a longer stay for Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

"The choice is clear. We either stay and do the job with our military in Afghanistan or we leave. We believe we should get more commitments from our allies and stay," Harper said.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion said Canada stop combat actions in Afghanistan, The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, reported Thursday.

Several senior Liberal Party members have said they would move toward defeating the minority Conservative government by prompting an election on its budget package, which would call attention to the country's economy problems and unemployment status, The Toronto Star reported Thursday.

"You'd rather go into an election over the budget than the war in Afghanistan," a senior Liberal said.

Harper's motion follows last month's recommendation by former Liberal Cabinet Minister John Manley, which said Canada should extend its Afghanistan mission if it can secure 1,000 more troops and additional equipment from its allies.