House of Commons Hansard #92 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was iran.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Export and Import Permits Act Second reading of Bill C-233. The bill aims to amend the Export and Import Permits Act to close dangerous loopholes in Canada's arms export regime, particularly the exemption for exports to the United States. Supporters argue it ensures Canada's international obligations and prevents human rights violations. Opponents, including the Bloc and Conservatives, warn it is too rigid, could harm Canadian industry, and strain alliances and the crucial defence relationship with the U.S. 6900 words, 1 hour.
Government Business No. 6—Proceedings on Bill C-9 Members debate a motion to expedite Bill C-9, which aims to combat hate propaganda, hate crimes, and protect access to religious sites. Liberals and the Bloc Québécois support the motion, citing Conservative filibustering and the urgent need to address rising hate-motivated violence. Conservatives oppose limiting debate, arguing the bill, particularly the removal of the religious exemption, threatens freedom of religion and expression, and that the government is censoring discussion on a "censorship bill." 15800 words, 2 hours.
Canada Post Corporation Act First reading of Bill C-262. The bill aims to modernize and standardize direct-to-consumer shipping of Canadian wine, beer, and spirits across provincial borders, creating a national framework to replace current provincial rules. 300 words.
Build Canada Homes Act Second reading of Bill C-20. The bill aims to establish Build Canada Homes, a Crown corporation, to increase affordable housing supply and promote efficient building techniques. The Liberal government states it will fast-track construction, use federal lands, and leverage partnerships, backed by a $13 billion investment. Conservatives criticize it as a fourth bureaucracy that will not solve the housing crisis, citing past Liberal failures and proposing tax cuts and reduced red tape instead. The Bloc Québécois argues housing is provincial jurisdiction and advocates for unconditional federal transfers to Quebec. 26100 words, 3 hours.
Iran and the Middle East Members debate the hostilities in Iran and the Middle East and their impact on Canadians abroad. The Liberals emphasize de-escalation, civilian protection, and consular support for Canadians, while Conservatives criticize the government's "incoherent and contradictory" position on U.S. air strikes. The Bloc Québécois stresses the importance of consulting allies and preparing contingency plans, and the NDP condemns the strikes as illegal under international law, urging a return to diplomacy. 31600 words, 4 hours.
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Madam Chair, my colleague did not answer the question from my colleague from Saint‑Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton. Does she know of a country where forced nation-building has worked, and does she believe that forced nation-building, like what Donald Trump is doing right now, will really meet the expectations of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement?
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Madam Chair, we have always advocated the same position: that the freedom of Iran belongs to the people of Iran, that the future of Iran belongs to the people of Iran and that the decision of how they are led in the future only belongs to the Iranian people. We will continue to take that position. By any means necessary, if this regime is one step closer to being toppled, I think that is a good day for western democracy and it is an even better day for human history.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Madam Chair, I could not agree more with the hon. member for Thornhill that it would be a great day to see the end of this regime. My problem is that the lessons of history tell us that when wars have started for regime change, they often fail to achieve regime change and worse leadership is put in place by the same kinds of thugs we were hoping to get rid of the first time.
I ask the hon. member if she sees a pathway to the people of Iran being able to choose their own leadership in a situation of conflict that is escalating out of control.
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Madam Chair, the path only starts when the current regime is toppled, and we are a step closer to that today than we ever have been in my lifetime and in the 47 years of this brutal dictatorship. The member opposite has a long illustrious career in this place, and I hope she is not suggesting that we just give up when we do not see the outcome we want. That is not what she has done in this place, so I am surprised that she is advocating that for an entire group of people.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Chair, to respond to some of the points being made across the way, it seems bizarre to me to say that the lessons of history are that intervention in defence of people who are suffering and are seeking democracy can never succeed. There is Germany and Japan; there are many instances. Frankly, Afghanistan was stabilized and was democratic until an abrupt pullout. To suggest that somehow defence of the innocent can never lead to the advance of democracy is clearly historically wrong. Removing the regime so that the people can choose their own government is a path forward.
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Madam Chair, the Iranian regime is, as my colleague has said, a brutal dictatorship that is directly responsible for the death of Canadians, never mind countless Jewish people and others. It has engaged in a reign of terror over its own people. I think of Mahsa Amini and the women in Iran. This is a brutal dictatorship.
After much pressure from the Conservatives for years, the Liberal government finally designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The problem is that there has not been a lot of enforcement on what that means in terms of Iranian officials. These are people who are senior officials directly involved in human rights abuses. There has not been a lot of action taken by the Liberal government to deport the over 700 people we know are in the country who would fall under this category. In fact, today there is a significant Globe and Mail story, I believe it was, that showed that there was only one person who fit this category who was deported.
I would just say this. Today we had officials in front of our immigration committee and we asked them, essentially, why this was the case. These are reasons that were cited today: that there were no flights to Iran, that they needed to protect the privacy of Iranian regime officials and that there were pending asylum claims. That is bananas. The reality is that hundreds of senior Iranian officials who are complicit in human rights abuses have come to Canada and remain here, and the Liberal government is not really doing anything about it. The government is letting its officials just say, “Okay, this is fine.” The Liberals need to exert political will and say that things have to change.
The reality is that Canada is becoming an attractive destination for Iranian regime officials to flee because they know that lax screening procedures allow them to enter undetected, and even if they are detected, they are not going to be deported because they have endless appeal processes available to them. They can claim asylum, and there are loopholes in the laws and in the processes.
I would like to think that nobody in this place would like to see this continue to happen. What we saw today at our committee was one of the worst exercises in bureaucratic incompetence that I have seen in almost my entire tenure in this place. I will put it this way: If I were the immigration minister, I would have called all of these officials into my office, raked them over the coals and given them a plan on how to do better. Public safety is at stake and there are members of the Iranian diaspora in Canada who feel deeply unsafe.
We are not just opposing the Liberals' failed approach here. Conservatives are also proposing a constructive path forward. Today, the government, actually all members in this place, can do something material and concrete to oppose the Iranian regime with the strokes of a few pens. Conservatives will be provoking a debate in the immigration committee over the following motion, which we gave notice of today.
We would like the Liberals to undertake a comprehensive review of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with an eye to modernize it to prevent Iranian regime officials from avoiding deportation by clearly ensuring that non-citizens who are deemed inadmissible, if they are involved in regime-linked businesses, spreading propaganda or human rights abuses, are deported. For example, an Iranian official was able to evade deportation, even though he ran a regime-funded propaganda distribution newspaper, even though he was a deputy general in the supreme leader's office in the U.A.E., and even though he held a senior position in the Friday imams policy propaganda, because he said he was not a cabinet minister, so he should be allowed to stay here. The law clearly needs to be updated and, frankly, shame on the IRB for allowing him to stay here.
We have other measures in here as well. One is to create an exemption for non-refoulement protections for Iranian regime officials who have been deemed inadmissible due to human rights abuses. We would also like the government to table, with Parliament, the identities of known Iranian regime officials who are currently present in Canada, especially those under deportation orders. These are common-sense measures that would keep Iranian diaspora and, frankly, all Canadians safe, and the government could do them today. It would be a way for Canada to strike a blow at the heart of the regime and to say, “No, Canada is not a safe destination for human rights abusers who have been involved in this regime.”
If we do not do this, I suspect that in a very short period of time, some prime minister will have to stand up and make an apology.
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague, someone I hold in the highest regard, and ask her a fairly simple question.
Earlier today, the Leader of the Opposition said that he was proud of the Prime Minister who, without consulting our allies, declared that he unequivocally supported the American and Israeli offensive. In the same breath, he also said that had he been prime minister, he would have consulted our allies before making a statement.
He cannot have it both ways: Would he have consulted our allies before making a statement, or is he proud of the Prime Minister's statement, which was made without consulting our allies?
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Chair, here is what I know. The Iranian regime did not consult the Jewish people when it murdered 1,200 people who were innocent, on October 7, 2023. It did not consult the dozens of Canadians who were blown to smithereens in an attack in January 2020. I could stand here for hours and talk about all the regime's human rights abuses for which it did not consult the international community and that, frankly, the lefty Squish-Os in the international community let it get away with for years.
Therefore, I support the right of Israel to defend itself against the terror that it has experienced from the Iranian regime, and I would like the Liberal government to do more to deport Iranian officials who see Canada as a safe haven due to Liberal inaction.
Sandra Cobena Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Mr. Chair, I held an open house this weekend in my riding, which has a large Iranian community. Its members know there are about 700 IRGC operatives in Canada. One of the things attendees asked me was to explain why the Liberal government is not doing anything about expelling them and is allowing them to operate here and to intimidate Canadians.
I would love to hear my colleague's thoughts on that.
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Chair, the Liberal government needs to be doing more. It is patently crazy that it is saying things such as that it has deported only one because there are no flights to Iran, and that it should protect their identities and let them claim asylum. That is just craziness. Frankly, the minister needs to go to her officials, tell them to read the room, that people are unsafe, that these are human rights abusers and that maybe we should deport them as the law says we should do.
This is why Conservatives have put forward a common-sense motion at the immigration committee. We will be triggering a very publicized debate on this. My colleagues will have Wednesday caucus meetings. I would ask my Liberal colleagues to take this seriously.
I tried to write the motion so that it was politically palatable. Under the auspices of the current law, we are asking for things like a review. There is no reason why we should not be supporting these measures and keeping Canadians safe.
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
Mr. Chair, I think it is pretty clear where our positions differ. Although we agree that we should not be partisan, it is also healthy to have a debate. It is healthy when not everyone is moving in the same direction. That is normal, because truth emerges from compromise and from tensions reaching equilibrium. That is how things should work in a democracy. If we all moved in the same direction, it would not work.
That being said, we are having a take-note debate here, the whole point of which is to raise different points of view. What does my colleague think about the silence of the Liberal members who wanted this debate, but from whom we are hearing very little this evening?
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Chair, my colleague is asking me to put my mind into the minds of my Liberal colleagues. That is something I do not feel like doing tonight.
There is a motion in front of the immigration committee. There are already media stories on it. I intend to make this a big issue. I ask all members here to take this back to their colleagues at their caucus meetings on Wednesday morning. This should be supportable, and we should have government action on this to ensure that Iranian regime officials are deported. They should not be allowed to stay in Canada. Their identities should not be protected because their lawyers asked for privacy. They should not be given asylum. It is just bananas. Let us get them out of the country.
Anthony Housefather LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience
Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Willowdale.
First of all, I would say that this debate tonight, for me, boils down to four simple questions.
Question number one is this: Is Canada safer if Iran is denied the opportunity to possess nuclear weapons? To me, the answer is a very clear yes.
Question number two is this: Is Canada better off, are Canadians better off, is the world better off and are the Iranian people better off if this regime disappears? The answer is yes.
Question number three is this: Is there some kind of horrible precedent being created internationally that is bad for Canada as a result of the action to stop the Iranian regime from getting nuclear weapons? My answer to that is no, and I will explain why. The Iranian regime not only massacres its own citizens and destroys the rights of Iranians in Iran, but foments terrorism across the Middle East and across the world and kills people in other countries for terrorist purposes. The regime can be distinguished from literally every other regime in the world, and the danger of the regime acquiring nuclear weapons is differentiated from any other regime in the world.
Question number four is this: What should Canada do as a result? We are not involved in the conflict. Our troops are not there. What are our baseline requirements? To me, our baseline requirements are twofold. The first is to bring home Canadian citizens and permanent residents from the Middle East. For whoever wants to come home, we need to help them get home. The second is to protect Iranian Canadians, Jewish Canadians and all Canadians from the regime. We need to make sure that people in Canada are safe. We have already seen the regime take actions within our country that have put Canadians in danger. Iranian Canadians have the right to live in Canada not in fear of the regime. Jewish Canadians have the right to live in Canada not in fear of their synagogues being shot at because of the regime hiring gangs in Canada. To me, that is a baseline requirement.
What has the Iranian regime done worldwide? In July 2024, I was in Argentina. I was in Argentina for the 30th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in Argentinian history: the bombing of the AMIA, the Jewish community offices in Argentina. The Argentinian judicial system found that those responsible were part of the Iranian regime. Not only were they responsible for the bombing of the AMIA, which killed 85 people and wounded 300, but they were also responsible for the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1992.
That is not all. Recently, Australia discovered that the Iranian regime was responsible for the firebombing and fire that took place at a synagogue in Sydney. This weekend, our British allies in the U.K. arrested four spies of the Iranian regime. They were in the U.K. and are now alleged to have been spying on the Jewish community in the U.K., putting them in danger.
This is unacceptable behaviour for any regime. If anyone bemoans that the regime will not have nuclear bombs, I do not know what they are thinking. If anyone wants the regime to stay in power, I do not know what they are thinking. The Iranian community in my riding has made it very clear to me, and Iranian Canadians I have spoken to across the country have made it very clear to me that they want the regime gone and they support actions to get rid of the regime.
Of course, as the member for Thornhill said, the Iranian people need to choose the next leadership of Iran. However, that does not mean that the regime is one that anyone wants to remain in power. They are dangerous to their own people, they are dangerous to the world and, especially, they are dangerous to Canadians, which is our primary priority.
Over the last week, we have continued a successive wave of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada that started on October 7 and has never ended. Three synagogues were shot at in Toronto, and everyone stood there. My colleague from Toronto—St. Paul's, who is sitting next to me, was there. I know one of the synagogues was in the riding of my colleague from Eglinton—Lawrence, and he would have wanted to be there.
This cannot continue. Everyone stood there and said that governments at all levels, the federal government, the provincial government and the municipal government; police at all levels, the municipal police that have jurisdiction, the OPP and the RCMP, and everyone else needs to protect Jewish Canadians. I would add that everyone needs to protect Iranian Canadians and everyone needs to protect all Canadians. That has to be our number one priority as a country.
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Chair, at the beginning of this operation in Iran, the Prime Minister was in the same place as the hon. member who has just spoken in the House. Since then, the Prime Minister has described the same strikes as a dangerous escalation, has said that Canada supported them “with regret”, has suggested that they reflect a “failure of the international order”, has raised concerns that the strikes appear “inconsistent with international law” and has called for de-escalation and diplomacy. However, despite all that disapproval, he has not ruled out the possibility that Canada might want to get involved at some point. There are 700 members of the IRGC in Canada terrorizing and maybe even murdering the Canadians whom the member says we should be worried about as our primary cause.
I want to know if the hon. member will commit his government to expelling IRGC operatives—
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Chair, as the hon. member well knows, this is not question period. I am not here speaking on behalf of the government, but I am here speaking on behalf of myself. I heard the Minister of Public Safety today, during question period, making very clear that Canada wants to expel anybody who should be expelled from this country, which includes the people who are high-level officers in the IRGC, and that he is going to take every single action to keep Canadians safe. I thought he said it very well.
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Chair, in fact, there is only one thing I want to know following my colleague's speech. When dealing with issues as complex as this one, we need to be thorough. In his answers, the Prime Minister first said one thing and then the opposite. He began by saying that he supported the American and Israeli strikes. Then he said that international law must be respected at all costs. Later, he said that the strikes did not comply with international law. At that point, we were a little confused.
The most important question is this: Is my colleague more in favour of his Prime Minister's position or is he more in favour of the Conservatives' position at this time with regard to the current conflict?
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Chair, I am not going to speak for others. I can say that I made a speech in which I stated my position very clearly. My position is that the Iranian regime is a danger to Canadians, that it should never obtain nuclear weapons and that we must ensure that Canadians in the Middle East return to Canada. We must ensure that Canadians are safe and secure, particularly Canadians of Iranian origin and Canadians of Jewish origin, who are most at risk today.
Leslie Church Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for expressing the concerns that many of us have about the brutality of the Iranian regime and its wide-ranging terror campaign that is conducted through proxies across the Middle East and spilling into our streets. My colleague mentioned the spate of anti-Semitic violence that we have seen in recent days, and I wanted to ask him if he could speak a bit more about the measures that we must take as a government and as a country to ensure that all Canadians are safe.
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Chair, Jewish organizations across the country have said that we need to adopt the combatting hate act. To me, that is the first thing this House of Commons needs to do in order to protect not only the Jewish community and its institutions, but all communities and their institutions. The combatting hate act's main provisions were part of the justice committee's recommendations in our anti-Semitism report tabled in December 2024. That, to me, is the number one priority. The second priority is that the security infrastructure program needs to have more money, and we need to make sure that it rolls out much more quickly. I think the minister today made some good points on that.
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Chair, I have a comment and a question. First of all, nothing in the combatting hate act would have stopped what is happening in the streets of Toronto. Would the member opposite agree that what is happening in our streets right now is domestic terror? Will he advocate for his government to call it just that?
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Chair, I take note of the point. I am not sure I can label it. I would say it is disgusting, it is deplorable and it needs to stop. The real goal is making it stop. It needs to stop.
Ali Ehsassi LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade
Mr. Chair, I would like to thank all my colleagues for their remarks tonight, and I agree with a lot of what I have heard, but perhaps just to take a very different perspective on this, I want to talk about the perspective of the Iranian Canadian community. As members know, the Iranian Canadian community is approximately 500,000 strong. Many of us have watched as many protests have taken place across our country. I just want to provide a window onto how Iranian Canadians are looking at this as it unfolds.
Let me begin by providing a very brief history. Iran, at the beginning of the 20th century, had the first constitutional revolution in the Middle East. As members can imagine, Iranians have aspirations, but since 1979, they have been living a very, very bleak chapter in the history of Iran. As I watch developments unfold, I share the same sentiment in the sense that I am very optimistic that finally we will see an end to this regime. However, watching things unfold on television, there are also moments where I have fear because I and the vast majority of Iranian Canadians, and Iranians within Iran as well, want to see an end to this regime. At least 80% of Iranians are known to want to see an end to the scourge of this regime. Of course, I am also concerned that ultimately, after all this hardship and the war that has started, we actually see regime change and that Iranians will be masters of their own destiny.
As I said, many of us are familiar with the dark chapters and the terrible things that Iranians have been subjected to since 1979. This is a regime that is truly a theocratic kleptocracy. It has really stripped the country down. These ayatollahs and their henchmen are all about themselves, and we are watching a country that is dealing with terrible economic despair. In addition to that, I think all the members are somewhat familiar with the terrible things that have happened in recent memory.
I would start with the green revolution in 2009, where Iranians courageously stood up to the regime but had to deal with its brutality. After that, there were protests in 2018. Again, Iranians were incredibly courageous and brave and tried to change the course of that country. Again, the Iranian regime was brutal. There was flight PS752, which Canadians are very familiar with, when the regime shot down a plane over the skies of Tehran. There was the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Again, people were very hopeful that it would be the end of the regime, but unfortunately, it was not. Now we have watched over the course of the past several months as the Iranian regime has butchered and massacred up to 30,000 people.
Iranians are looking at this. For, I would say, 95% of Iranian Canadians, nothing would make them happier than to see an end to this regime, and even in Iran, it is the same thing. All that is to say, and some people may not understand the complexities of this, that the vast majority of Iranian Canadians are optimistic but also very concerned about what their loved ones are experiencing back in Iran.
In terms of recommendations, I would completely agree with the members who are saying we should be concerned about public safety here in Canada. There is a gentleman who is leading the protests in Toronto. His name is Salar Gholami. His gym was vandalized. It took many shots. That is a good indication that we should be vigilant and make sure we clamp down on any activities by any agents of the regime. We should remind our allies, whether it be the Americans or the Israelis, to adhere to human rights and humanitarian law. We should be concerned about connectivity for Iranians here with their loved ones back home. Lastly, I would say we should remain focused on ensuring that a democratic Iran emerges.
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Chair, an Iranian member of my local community wrote to me to say that Iranians have tried peaceful protest and civil resistance for years, only to face arrest, torture and deadly crackdowns. They have tried diplomacy, and gotten hangings and executions. She wrote to me that a democratic Iran would significantly improve regional stability and reduce the global threats posed by the IRGC.
If the member does not believe in war, but still wants to see quick regime change, what realistic path for change does he believe remains open to the Iranian people?
