Hamilton Spectator, Friday, March 6, page A11 Nicholson says Canada in Iraq for ‘the longer term’ OTTAWA — The Harper government is laying the groundwork for what has all the appearances of an extension of Canada’s combat mission against the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. At the end of this week’s whirlwind trip to Iraq and other allied countries this week, Foreign Aff airs Minister Rob Nicholson dropped strong hints that an extension is in the offing when the current Canadian Forces combat mission expires April 7. A decision will be made in the next two weeks by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet, Nicholson said Thursday, peppering his comments with rhetoric about how Canada doesn’t stand “on the sidelines” and leave the heavy lifting to others. “We’re in this for the longer term to make sure that we do what we can to help,” he said in a conference call from Amman, Jordan. A senior defence official said Thursday the next contingent of troops and aircrew are training for deployment to Iraq, if the government does decide to extend the mission. “The military planners are ready to answer the government’s call in whatever shape that might take,” said navy Capt. Paul Forget. “That planning has been in the works for some time.” Forget was asked whether the military would be able to handle an expansion of the air campaign to Syria, or even eastern Libya, where the Islamic State has taken hold. Syria “would not be much of a stretch,” he said, but Libya would require the establishment of an entirely separate task force.