Madam Speaker, this is a bit frustrating because I have asked the same question of the government so many times. I hope I will be clear enough as to give the government no excuse this time. Hopefully I will actually get some degree of an answer.
My question is why the government has not listed the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, a terrorist entity and if it is still the policy of the government to do so.
I will give a quick historical background on this.
Approaching two years ago, we passed in the House a motion to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity. That motion passed with the support of all members of the Conservative caucus and all members of the Liberal caucus, at least all those who were present. The Prime Minister and other leading ministers, such as the former ministers of public safety, foreign affairs, etc., were part of that vote and voted in favour of listing the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code.
In fact, the motion did not just say to list the IRGC, it said to do so immediately. The Conservatives followed up immediately. We told the government that it voted for a motion and that the House of Commons had expressed its desire to immediately list the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. We had asked for it to be done immediately and the government had agreed. We asked what the government would do about it. The government said that it would think about it, would study it and that the process was under way.
We understood there was a process that could take a month, two months or three months. It is not really plausible that it is approaching two years after the fact. Surely the listing process does not take that long. In fact, there have been cases where terrorist entities that have existed for less time have managed to be listed in a much shorter period of time.
The typical response, and maybe the response we will hear from the government tonight, is to usually talk about other things that have been done on human rights related to Iran. The government will not say that all those things are continuations of things that were done under the Harper government, but nonetheless it will point to those things.
The government will say that the IRGC Quds Force, which is part of the IRGC, is listed. Again, that was an action taken by the Harper government, not by the current government. The Quds Force is still listed as a terrorist entity. However, the motion that passed, approaching two years ago, was not to list the Quds Force. It was already listed. The motion was to list the IRGC in its entirety and to do so immediately.
Maybe tonight will be the night. Maybe we will not hear the smoke and mirrors of it still being in process. It is going to be in process for another 50 years. Hopefully we will not hear this “still in process” nonsense. Hopefully the government will not just remind us about the Quds Force, which is already listed, has been for a long time and is not the topic here.
Hopefully the government will answer the question. Is it still the policy of the government to list the IRGC? Is there a reason the government did not list the IRGC earlier, and why? What is its intention with regard to the listing of the IRGC? It should be a simple question. It has been asked over and over again in question period and late shows. Hopefully now is the time we get an answer.
Is it still the policy of the government to list the IRGC, why has it not done it yet and does it plan to do it in the future?