OTTAWA, July 13: Canada’s Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been told to stop referring to “fighting terrorism” and the Sept 11 attacks, and to banish the phrase “cut and run” from its vocabulary if it is to persuade a sceptical public that the military mission in Afghanistan is worth pursuing, the Globe and Mail reported on Friday.

Quoting a public-opinion report the newspaper said only 40 per cent of respondents across Canada, and almost none in Quebec, support the deployment. To change the perceptions, it recommends putting the emphasis on “rebuilding,” “enhancing the lives of women and children,” and “peacekeeping.”

The report to Foreign Affairs was prepared last month by the Strategic Counsel. It paints a bleak picture of weak public support for the military mission, for which the firm blames “unbalanced, mostly negative” media coverage of the war and misperceptions about the mission's purpose. Only 40 per cent of Canadians support the mission, according to Strategic Counsel data.

And the firm says the public views information from Ottawa “through a thick lens of cynicism.”

“They feel that much of what government says is propaganda, intended simply to appeal to the voting public and to spin stories in a positive manner,” the report points out.