The federal government has not ruled out adding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its formal list of terrorist entities.
When pressed repeatedly on why the IRGC has not been classified as a terrorist entity, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly wouldn’t say, but told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday that the federal government has to “have the right tools to address this issue.”
“I think that we have to work on the best tools to do it. I think that we have to, meanwhile, continue to assure the protection of our diplomats or military … in the region,” Joly said.
While Canada considers Hamas a terrorist entity, it has not extended the same designation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. The U.S. State Department recently highlighted Iran’s funding and arming of Hamas while levying sanctions.
“It is also very important that Hamas lay down its weapons,” Joly also said. “That’s also part of our approach when it comes to Hamas. When it comes to Iran, we know that Iran is a state sponsor of terror, because there are clear links between their different proxies, including of course, we know, Hamas.”
“That being said, we have one of the most stringent and tough approaches in the world when it comes to Iran,” she added, pointing to specific members and a branch of the IRGC being on the terrorist organization list, plus sanctions against other Iranian officials and entities.
And while the IRGC as a whole is not on Canada’s list of terrorist organizations, its “clandestine” branch, the Corps’ Quds Force, is.
“But I’m committed to working particularly with the Iranian community and particularly also with the PS752 families, which I’ve been in touch with a lot on this issue, because I know that the community is fearful of the IRGC,” Joly also said.
The IRGC shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, and the families of the victims have called on the Canadian government to add the IRGC to its list of terrorist entities ever since.
There have been renewed calls to do so since the Oct. 7 attacks, including from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Several members of the United States Congress also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week urging the Canadian government to designate the IRGC a terrorist entity.
The United States did so in 2019 under the Trump administration and in May 2022, current U.S. President Joe Biden decided to maintain the designation.
In 2018, Joly voted in favour of an opposition motion in the House of Commons to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code, but the federal government has yet to do so.
Now, Joly says she’s been working with “key Iranian community leaders” in Canada on the issue, and that “we’ll do more in the coming year.”
When asked whether her comment about ensuring the “protection of our diplomats, (and) our military,” means she is concerned about retaliation from Iran if Canada designates the IRGC a terrorist entity, Joly said she “can’t comment on that.”
“But what I can tell you when it comes to diplomacy, reciprocity is always an issue,” she added. “That being said, what I can tell you is we have to have the right tools to address this issue, and I’m committed to working with Public Security and Justice on developing the right tools.”
Joly also said Canada has “done a lot” when it comes to the IRGC, “but we can do more, and we’ll do more.”
“So I’ll have more to say in the coming weeks,” she said.
When Kapelos asked again whether that means the terrorist entity designation is possible, Joly said the federal government will be “working with the community on this.”
“And I think that we have to be creative to develop new approaches and new tools that would permit government to do what is needed,” she said.
Joly in her interview also discussed whether she believes Israel has breached international humanitarian law in its response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, and whether she believes a two-state solution is possible in the region.
Watch the full interview on CTV’s Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
