Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan is being quoted as suggesting that the rise of ISIL and the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 may be somehow connected to climate change. The Opposition in Parliament is making fun of the Minister’s remarks, made during a speech Friday at the Canada 2020 Conference. Sajjan gave climate change as an example of an issue “creating grievances in many different parts of the world.” CTV quotes defence critic James
Bezan as saying “the defence minister is blaming climate change for ISIS. Does the defence minister actually believe that climate change creates jihadi terrorists?” he asked. Mr. Sajjan responded that due to the “complexity of conflict, you have to look (at) many different aspects of what causes it. When it comes to ISIL, Taliban, Boko Haram and the atrocities that they commit, we have to be smart about it,” Sajjan added.
