Mr. Speaker, this morning, The Globe and Mail reported that Irwin Cotler, the former attorney general of Canada, was the target of an assassination plot by the Iranian regime.
For over a month, Mr. Cotler has been living under police protection because an authoritarian regime wants him dead. Mr. Cotler, a human rights activist and staunch opponent of racism and anti-Semitism, had provoked the wrath of the Iranian regime by calling for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist entity in Canada and around the world. The IRGC assisted with preparations for the October 7 attack and is responsible for the deaths of young women in Iran, among others.
We will never stand by while people of whatever political stripe are threatened with death because of their opinions. We unreservedly condemn the death threats against Mr. Cotler, and we condemn the increasing willingness of foreign powers to commit political assassinations on Canadian and Quebec soil.
I want Mr. Cotler to know that he is not alone.