Keep peace or fight?

Photo: Contributed - Flickr/RCAF

The war on terrorism, warfare in the Middle East and the plight of refugees escaping Syria are major hot-button issues in Canada right now – leaving Castanet readers divided and perhaps even a little unsure of what they want.

While nearly 68 per cent of voters in a recent Castanet poll believe Canada should continue bombing raids in Syria, another 44 per cent of pollers in the following day's poll said they would prefer Canada return to its peacekeeping routes and stay out of warfare.

The first poll asked Should Canada continue bombing raids in Syria? – and was met with a fairly one-sided response.

Of 6,196 votes cast, a total of 4,196 people voted in favour of continuing the bombing raids in Syria, 67.7 per cent, while 23.8 per cent (1,476) voted against the continued bombing in Syria and less than one per cent (523) were undecided on the issue.

When it came to the peacekeeping poll however – Should Canada return to peacekeeping rather than military missions? – voters were far more divided.

Of 3,536 votes cast, a total of 44.2 per cent (1,562) of voters thought Canada should return to peacekeeping missions, while 48.5 per cent (1,718) think Canada should still play an active role in the coalition fighting Islamic militant and less than one per cent (256) were undecided.

As it stands, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told his fellow G-20 leaders that Canada will still play an active role in the coalition fighting Islamic militants, despite his decision to withdraw fighter jets from the mission.

"He told his colleagues that Canada has been an active member of the coalition and will continue to be, but will evaluate how we can best contribute," Cameron Ahmad, Trudeau's spokesman, said in an email.

Canadian officials have previously said that Canada is considering strengthening its efforts to train Kurdish fighters in their ground war against ISIL.