SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 299 - Apr/15/24

Mr. Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, BQ)

Apr/15/24 5:48:33 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it is not easy for Canada to have any credibility on the international stage when it comes to security. A major player in the government told us that “Canada is back”, but it is definitely not. Canada was eyeing a seat on the United Nations Security Council, but it lost the bid. When it comes to security, Canada has had problems, especially with the Winnipeg lab, a maximum-security facility. When it comes to security, this report talks about recognizing a terrorist group and putting it on the list of terrorist entities, a targeted list, so that the group is identified by the government and its security agencies. I would like my colleague to talk about sanctions. The government, along with other G7 countries, seems inclined to impose sanctions on the Iranian regime and the current Iranian government. The government is already having difficulty targeting, analyzing and monitoring the sanctions against Russia. I cannot see how it will manage to do the same for Iran. I would like my colleague to enlighten me and to explain in practical terms how his government is trying to resolve the situation and act in an effective, meaningful way.

199 words

Mr. Patrick Weiler

Apr/15/24 5:49:56 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I think our sanctions program is an important part of our foreign policy. I think we can do a lot more to strengthen it. There are sanctions against the Iranian regime and the Russian regime. The truth is, it is very difficult to figure out where people are who have money and other property in Canada. Very recently, we set up a beneficial ownership registry for corporations. I think tools like that are very important in order to find out what these people own in Canada when we are issuing sanctions. That helps make sanctions effective.

98 words

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Apr/15/24 5:51:10 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to put on the record that the Green Party also supports the vote to do more. I also want to associate myself with the comments of the hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona, who said that this is not the right way to go about it. A concurrence debate does not give us the kind of full and detailed discussion that needs to be had. All I will ask my hon. colleague for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country is this: Will he support, and does he believe his party will support, the move within the foreign affairs committee toward holding hearings and listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization?

117 words

Mr. Patrick Weiler

Apr/15/24 5:51:50 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, that is the appropriate forum to investigate this issue more fulsomely and to look at all the tools that we can utilize to protect Iranian Canadians and to hold the regime accountable. Likewise, I think it is difficult to do that in this setting, because we are talking about things that will likely require changing legislation.

58 words

Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Apr/15/24 5:52:26 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to speak to this important motion. The motion we are dealing with is a concurrence motion that calls for a number of things, but the one I mainly want to talk about today is the first part of the motion, which calls on Canada to designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code and expel the estimated 700 Iranian agents operating in Canada. I wish I could say that to do this was obvious and that it had been done already. Many people watching this debate tonight may not realize that Parliament actually voted to do this exact thing six years ago. Sometimes I wonder what we are doing in this place. We are elected. We are spending billions of dollars renovating Centre Block. These places are supposed to mean something. They represent the will of the common people. When we vote as a Parliament to do something, it should be done. If there is a good reason for it not to be done, I am all ears. I keep asking myself this: What will it take for the Prime Minister to actually list the IRGC as a terrorist entity? The Liberals are now using Liberal speak. They are saying they have to responsibly list. I have never heard those two words put together in my life, responsibly list, unless one is making a grocery list or something. What do they mean by that? What will it take for the Prime Minister to act responsibly? The IRGC has been a bad actor in the region and throughout the world for decades. It is not a secret. The IRGC does not hide it either. We know that there are 700 agents wreaking havoc on Persian and Jewish communities. Who knows what else they have gotten into? What if, for instance, the IRGC shot down an aircraft and killed Canadian citizens? If that were to happen, would the government register the IRGC as a terrorist entity? The answer is no, because it happened. That was done. It pains me to have to say it again. PS752 was shot down, killing 55 Canadians and 20 permanent residents. The call came after Parliament already voted and the democratic will of the Canadian people had been expressed. The call came again from the House to please ban the IRGC and list it as a terrorist entity. Apparently, it fell on deaf ears. Would it take the IRGC murdering “woman, life, freedom” activists, such as Mahsa Amini, to finally bring in a ban on the IRGC? I always thought, because I heard the Prime Minister say this back in 2015, that the government had a feminist foreign policy. Where is it? The IRGC murdered activists in cold blood. The calls came out again from this democratic institution to ban the IRGC and do the right thing. The government said we have to responsibly list, whatever that means. What will it take for the Prime Minister to act responsibly? Would it take Iran and the IRGC orchestrating a terror attack in Israel in which 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians were killed and 250 others were kidnapped? Our friend, democratic ally Israel, gets attacked and its people slaughtered in their own homes. I know this because I walked among those homes. When I was in Israel in November, I walked through the burned, shot-up and blackened homes of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and saw the devastation that Hamas, the Iranian IRGC proxy, wrought on the innocent civilians of Israel. Would it take something such as that for the Liberal government to finally decide to ban the IRGC? Apparently, it would not. How about 700 IRGC agents across the country harassing Persian and Jewish communities? Mr. Speaker, imagine a circumstance in which Iran decided to send 170 armed drones from its territory directly to Israel. Such a scenario seems unimaginable. Would it make the government finally realize that it is time to ban the IRGC? What if Iran sent 30 cruise missiles or 120 ballistic missiles? What if such an eventuality took place? What if it did something so heinous to our friend and ally Israel? However, Iran did do it. It did it on Saturday night, on Shabbat in Israel, because it wants to kill Jews. It wants to do that directly and indirectly, through proxies such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas. That is Iran's goal, and Canada, as an ally of the only democratic state in the Middle East, has a moral obligation to stand up and do the right thing. Again, what is this “responsibly list” business? Some will say there are some low-level IRGC conscripts who are living in Canada now; surely we should not do anything that would hurt them. What about the fact that our own citizens and our allies are being hurt? I have my doubts that this is the issue, because all they have really said in the last six years is that we need to look out for these poor conscripts who really had nothing to do with the conflict other than the fact they spent a year in the IRGC. However, if this is actually the reason, then let us find a solution to that problem, but not doing anything at this point is simply not an option. I also want to briefly talk about the horrendous motion the Liberals and the NDP in the House gave a standing ovation to themselves for a couple of weeks ago. It did not punish the IRGC. We can imagine punishing the IRGC, which would make sense. It did not punish Hamas. The motion punished Israel. There was a motion passed by the House that actually punished Israel and rewarded Hamas. It punished Israel by reinstating funding to UNRWA, which is a subject of a whole other debate, but UNRWA employees were complicit and acted directly in the slaughter of Israeli citizens on that day. We should not be funding organizations that fund terror. What else did the motion do? It banned arms sales. What foresight. What a brilliant move that the House of Commons would vote to ban arms sales to our friend and ally Israel. We ban arms sales to Israel and now Iran shoots cruise missiles, drones and ballistic missiles at Israel. The Prime Minister says that we stand with Israel and that it has a right to defend itself, but we are not going to sell it any arms. What a hypocrite. Such a level of hypocrisy has never before been seen in the House, and it cannot stand. I would like to ask for unanimous consent for the following motion: “That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order, or usual practices of the House, the motion to concur— Some hon. members: No.

1144 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/15/24 6:02:37 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if the member could provide his thoughts on the G7 leaders' statement on Iran's attack against Israel: We, the Leaders of the G7, unequivocally condemn in the strongest terms Iran's direct and unprecedented attack against Israel. Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel. Israel, with the help of its partners, defeated the attack. We express our full solidarity and support to Israel and its people and reaffirm our commitment towards its security. With its actions, Iran has further stepped toward the destabilization of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. This must be avoided. We will continue to work to stabilize the situation and avoid further escalation. In this spirit, we demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives. We will also strengthen our cooperation to end the crisis in Gaza, including by continuing to work towards an immediate and sustainable ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas, and deliver increased humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in need. Does the member support what the G7 leaders have said?

196 words

Mr. Marty Morantz

Apr/15/24 6:03:48 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to say one thing that I did not have the chance to say in my main speech. It was published today that the foreign affairs minister was speaking with her counterpart in Israel. She said to him, “take the win”. Can members imagine? I wonder what my friend from Winnipeg North would say if this happened in Canada, around Winnipeg. Should we de-escalate? Should we just take the win? We happen to have the technology to knock them down. With friends like these Liberals, who needs enemies?

98 words

Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)

Apr/15/24 6:04:38 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague and friend from Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley for that great speech and for his unwavering commitment to stand with Israel. The Jewish community here in Canada has unfortunately been feeling a lot of anti-Semitism coming from some members of the House. We are seeing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel motions being presented. We are witnessing it manifest on the streets across Canada. Would my colleague and friend comment on how the arms embargo that the Liberals have now put upon selling Canadian-made weapons into the hands of Israel to defend its own citizens and its own borders is hurting not only Israel, but also Canadian businesses, in being able to push back against the terrorist regime in Tehran, the IRGC, and Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, which are hell bent on destroying Israel?

147 words

Mr. Marty Morantz

Apr/15/24 6:05:52 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the first words that come to mind when I think about what my colleague just expressed are Neville Chamberlain's level appeasement. We cannot say that we stand with Israel or that Israel has a right to defend itself with credibility when we then say that we are not going to sell Israel weapons, after it was attacked by Iran's proxy, Hamas, and after it got attacked directly by Iran. That decision cannot stand. It has to be reversed. It has to be reversed right now.

89 words

Mr. John Brassard (Barrie—Innisfil, CPC)

Apr/15/24 6:06:38 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, for the better part of the afternoon, we have been talking about what has gone on over the last six years, and the fact that the House expressed its view in banning the IRGC as a terrorist organization six years ago. We have not seen any action by the government at all. I am just wondering if my hon. colleague wants to speculate on or perhaps provide the real reason the Liberals are not deeming the IRGC a terrorist entity.

82 words

Mr. Marty Morantz

Apr/15/24 6:07:24 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it is because they are a bunch of weak appeasers. The Liberals want to make friends with our enemies and treat our friends as enemies. It is shameful. This is a time for moral clarity. We need to be standing with Israel, one hundred per cent.

48 words

Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC)

Apr/15/24 6:07:59 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to support concurrence of the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, a report that touches on the human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a report that draws attention of these abuses to the government in the hope that the government would act. We are having this debate here in the House on this very issue in the aftermath of the Iranian regime's attack on the State of Israel this past weekend. I think it is a timely debate for us to have. I hope members of the House will support concurrence of this report. It also allows us to draw attention to the gross human rights abuses and the violations of international law that the Iranian regime has been perpetrating in recent years. In particular, we need to draw attention to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is a key part of the state apparatus of the leaders in Tehran. It permeates its security apparatus internally in Iran and its military. It is an entity that we believe should be listed as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada. Six years ago, in June 2018, the House adopted a motion calling on the Government of Canada to immediately list the IRGC as a terrorist entity. It has been six long years since the House adopted that motion, since members of the ministry of the government, including the Prime Minister, voted for that motion. However, here we are, six years later, and in the intervening years, the IRGC has continued to promulgate its ruthless and vicious campaign persecuting Iranians in Iran, including people such Nasrin Sotoudeh, an esteemed human rights advocate in Iran, and its campaign of destabilizing the region by attacking liberal democracies, such as the State of Israel. It also continues to attack Canadian interests here at home. It was in January 2020, some four years ago, when the IRGC fired a missile at Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, which killed dozens and dozens of Canadian citizens. Those families continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones to this day. They were people who held such promise in their future contributions to this country, whose lives will never be known and who will never be able to make a contribution to this country. We have had these things happen over the last six years, yet the government continues to stubbornly refuse to take the leadership to list the organization as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code, despite the fact that the Prime Minister himself has called the IRGC a terrorist organization. Despite the fact that the government has labelled it as such, it still refuses to take the ministerial authority they are entrusted with under the Criminal Code to list the entity as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. The reason this is so very important is that it would allow FINTRAC and our other investigative bodies, such as the RCMP, our provincial police forces of jurisdiction, our CSIS intelligence analysts and operatives, who all work so hard to keep our country safe each and every day, to have another tool to prosecute the flows of money that are so often associated with the threats the IRGC presents, both to the people of Iran in that region and to Canadians here at home. Iran is subject to vast sanctions regimes. That makes it very difficult for the Islamic Republic of Iran to get the cash it needs to operate. The flows of money that so often accompany the threats that we see, both here and in the region, are essential in cutting off the ability of the IRGC to function. However, our security forces here in Canada, our intelligence agencies here in Canada and our police forces of jurisdiction have one hand tied behind their backs because they are not allowed to go after people in Canada who are helping the IRGC with flows of money, whether it is helping them clandestinely sell oil on the black market to fund the projects they want to fund or whether it is going to proxy agents of the IRGC who are operating here on Canadian soil and threatening Canadian citizens, doing so with resources they have clandestinely been provided with. These are the reasons we need to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity. We are calling on the government to do exactly that in the context of the shooting down of Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, in the context of the attack this past weekend by the IRGC on the State of Israel and in light of its gross human rights abuses and imprisonment of people such as Nasrin Sotoudeh and so many other people in Iran. We have a government that says it supports the motion that was adopted in the House some six years ago, a government that calls the IRGC a terrorist entity, and a government that still refuses to list the entity as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code of Canada. In response to the government's reasons for not listing the IRGC, which is that it is worried about capturing innocent individuals who are compelled to join the IRGC while they are in Iran, its members forget the fact that there is prosecutorial discretion here in Canada. Crown prosecutors have the discretion about whether or not to pursue charges under a terrorist entity listing under the Criminal Code of Canada. Their explanations for why they continue to refuse to list this entity does not make any sense, and we are calling on them to support this concurrence motion and list the IRGC as a terrorist entity.

954 words

The Deputy Speaker

Apr/15/24 6:15:20 p.m.
Watch

It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings on the motion at this time. Accordingly, the debate on the motion will be rescheduled for another sitting.

26 words

The Deputy Speaker

Apr/15/24 6:16:52 p.m.
Watch

Call in the members.

4 words

Call

Mr. Chris Warkentin

Apr/15/24 6:16:52 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives would ask for a recorded division.

9 words

The Deputy Speaker

Apr/15/24 6:16:52 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-50

Pursuant to an order made on Monday, December 4, 2023, it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of the third stage of Bill C-50, and of the amendment. The question is on the amendment. If a member participating in person wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

89 words

The Deputy Speaker

Apr/15/24 7:00:19 p.m.
Watch

I declare the amendment defeated. The next question is on the main motion. If a member participating in person wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

58 words

Hon. Andrew Scheer

Apr/15/24 7:01:04 p.m.
Watch

I would like a recorded division, Mr. Speaker.

8 words

The Deputy Speaker

Apr/15/24 7:12:46 p.m.
Watch

I declare the motion carried.

5 words

Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Apr/15/24 7:16:38 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, it is somewhat ironic that it is a Liberal member who wants us to be remembering what happened during the pandemic. Frankly, I would expect Liberal members to want us to forget what they did during the pandemic. I would not have expected this, but the Liberals should be offering a grovelling apology to the Canadian people for their disastrous record over the course of the pandemic and should be hoping that people forget afterward. The reality of the government's approach to the pandemic was that it showed capricious disregard for the basic civil liberties of Canadians. It showed disregard for the law. It sought to demonize people who disagreed. It saw the pandemic as an opportunity to spend outrageous sums of money, and in many cases, it was on things completely unrelated to the pandemic. It aggressively demonized people who would disagreed with it. That is the government's pandemic record. It shows a lack of respect for taxpayers' dollars and a lack of respect for constitutionally protected fundamental human rights. Let us go back to the very beginning. Then finance minister Bill Morneau, of course with the full encouragement and co-operation of the Prime Minister, tried to use the pandemic as an excuse to bring in legislation that would have given the government the power to raise taxes without the permission of Parliament. That group of Canadians, when the pandemic hit, was immediately thinking how they could use it as an opportunity to raise taxes. The Liberals have a one-track mind over there. There was a global health crisis, and they saw it as their opportunity to raise taxes, to take over more control from Canadians and to undermine fundamental rights. They did that during the pandemic. They wanted to be able to assume, within the executive, all the powers of Parliament. That was the government's attitude to the pandemic. It is unbelievable. I do not support this legislation. I wish Liberal members of Parliament would have more ambition with their private member's bills than to just have more days for this and days for that. Actually, I do not. I am glad they do not have more ambition because I can only imagine what kind of terrible ideas they would come up with. While we are talking about remembering what happened during the pandemic, I hope government members will take an opportunity to apologize for how they tried to abuse the circumstances of the pandemic to undermine the rights of Canadians, to attack taxpayers and to demonize people who disagreed with them. The pandemic is behind us, but we should never forget what it revealed about the kind of Prime Minister and the kind of government we have.

460 words