Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to finish my presentation on today's motion, which seeks to strongly condemn the current regime in Iran and more specifically a terrorist state.
It is often said that you have to turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you. The same can be said of terrorism. Unfortunately, yesterday we saw hate speech come out of the demonstrations that were held in a number of our major cities. It was an incitement to violence.
In Canada, we have freedom of expression, but sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code also state that promoting the genocide of or inciting hatred against an identifiable group is completely inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Criminal Code. Unfortunately, that is what we saw yesterday when demonstrators called for the destruction of a democratic country in the Middle East, Israel, and its people.
I am raising this topic in debate because yesterday was the international al-Quds day, which was established in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini, an Iranian dictator. The purpose of this event, which originated in Iran but is financed in several western countries, including, unfortunately, Canada, is clearly to destroy a democratic country.
This is why it is important for every member of this House to take a strong stand and support the motion to strongly condemn terrorism and those who support it.