Madam Chair, for 47 years, the Iranian regime has ruled in the shadow of repression, crushing its own people, jailing and murdering dissidents, massacring tens of thousands and acquiring a nuclear arsenal. This we have made clear in the debate tonight. For a lot of people, the dream of that regime actually crumbling is closer than it has ever been in their lifetime.
There is going to be lots said about the position of Canada, the conflict in Iran, the toppling of a regime and our nation's place in the world, but I am going to talk about what this means right here for us in Canada, because that is what we can control.
This is about building a safer country, free of terrorism, a country where freedom and protection under the law actually mean something for everyone here. We have 700 IRGC agents, whom we know about, who are currently active in this country. The minister stood up today and could not even tell us if there was more than one who has been expelled.
I am a proud member of Parliament who represents a small part of that community. On a regular basis, I get calls from members of that community, members of that community who have run away from that regime. They are scared, with a blurred out background, sitting in their cars, with a blacked out number, away from their homes, because they are terrified that the repression and the reach of that regime is right here in our country. We know of senior members of the regime who have worked out in the same gyms as they have, a neighbourhood gym in my own constituency. We know of senior members of the regime eating in fancy steak houses. We know of senior members of the regime's kids who are studying in universities here.
I cannot tell the House how disappointing it is to hear the Prime Minister have four different positions on this in four days. In fact, I think we heard two more different positions here in this debate, in the House, throughout the day. This is, of course, unclear to the hundreds of thousands of Iranian Canadians who have been in the streets calling for the toppling of the regime, but it is even more concerning to our allies and to our place in the world.
I am going to go back to what we can do right here. There has been violence in our communities. There have been people kidnapped. There have been, potentially, murders because of the reach of the mullah's thugs. I want to speak for a second directly to the Iranian Canadian community. I want to say clearly in the House, because it has not been said: The mullahs are not the history of Iran. The mullahs can never be the history of Iran, and it is our responsibility as the members of Parliament of a G7 country, members of the civilized world, members of a western democracy, to stand up against tyranny at every opportunity we get.
That opportunity has been given to the Prime Minister tonight, and he is nowhere to be found in this debate throughout the day in the House. He has not made his position clear in the House of Commons or to Parliament at all. He has made a position sort of clear on one day. He first said that he supported the strikes. Then he said he regretted that support. Then he said it was in contravention of international law. Then he somehow said that he would join the strikes. Then he said he was not asked to join the strikes. I am going on and on because we can see how ridiculous it is to anybody watching this, such as our allies and those in the community who are suffering from the repression right here in Canada.
I want to make a few things very clear, and I will do it in one minute. I want the government to commit today to expelling every single regime agent who has made Canada their own playground for the activities we see on the other side of the world that have subjugated a population of poets and architects and those yearning for freedom.
I want every single one of those agents gone from this country so that the notion of “Woman, Life, Freedom” actually means something. I want every single Liberal who stood on a stage for the last three years chanting “Woman, Life, Freedom” to actually mean it in the House, to actually show up for this debate and to actually have a position on it.