The Liberal government’s last-minute endorsement of an amended NDP motion on Palestinian statehood is being welcomed by the country’s Muslim advocacy group and derided by Jewish voices who say Ottawa has sub-contracted its foreign policy to “anti-Israel radicals.”
The motion, introduced by NDP MP Heather McPherson, was controversial from the start. One clause in the original motion called on the government to “officially recognize the State of Palestine.”
As the war rages on in Gaza, some of Canada’s allies, including the United Kingdom, have signalled they’re open to recognizing the Palestinian territories as a state — once some key conditions are met.
The idea has been pitched as a way to revive dormant peace talks and prompt the creation of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.
The Trudeau government took out its red pen and amended the language in McPherson’s motion to add the stipulation that Canada will “work with international partners” to “pursue the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” and work “towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution.”
Before backing the motion, the government also adjusted its section on military exports. It wouldn’t go along with a call to “suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel” but agreed to “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel.”
As for UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, the government agreed to maintain its funding — as it has announced previously — but it added language to the motion saying it supports an internal investigation into claims that some UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas attack of Oct. 7.
The government also added verbiage about backing “long-term governance reforms” and “accountability measures” at UNRWA. The aid agency has been described by some as an essential lifeline for Gazans living through a destructive war — while some Israelis claim it has been infiltrated by Hamas-linked elements.
House passes watered-down Palestinian recognition motion
The House of Commons passed a softened NDP motion on Monday night that no longer calls for the federal government to officially recognize Palestinian statehood after last-minute amendments brought in by the governing Liberals.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the government secured important “concessions” before agreeing to the motion’s passage.
“We were able to find common ground on the question of the two-state solution, which is important for Canadians and for our country,” she said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Palestinians are “suffering on a massive scale in Gaza,” and the entire population of the territory is “on the brink of starvation.”
“Our motion offers real solutions for peace and justice, as well as steps to show that Canada can be a force for good in this world and that Canada and its leaders have the moral courage to say when enough is enough,” he said.
Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7. The surprise Hamas assault left some 1,200 people — mostly civilians but also soldiers, police officers and security officials — dead in Israel, according to officials, and saw hundreds of hostages taken to Gaza.
Gaza health officials said that, as of last week, Israel’s military campaign had killed more than 31,000 people and displaced nearly two million more.
Parliamentary vote on Palestinian statehood tests Liberal caucus
March 18, 2024 – “We’ve given the Liberals our red lines,” says NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson ahead of a vote on the opposition day motion brought forward by her party. The non-binding motion calls on the Canadian government to take a number of actions in response to the war in the Gaza Strip, including “officially” recognizing “the State of Palestine.” Plus, we have reaction from Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is calling the motion a “huge slap in the face” for Canada’s Jewish community.
McPherson said she was amenable to the government’s changes because the motion was never meant to be “a ‘gotcha’ motion” — the party wanted the government to come on side.
“This is a moment in time where we need to come up with a better solution for peace in the Middle East,” she told CBC News.
The government’s changes meant that a motion that was destined to fail — fewer than a dozen Liberal MPs told CBC News earlier Monday they would vote in favour — easily carried the House of Commons, with only the staunchly pro-Israel Conservative caucus, three Liberals and an Independent MP voting nay.
The final vote count was 204 in favour and 117 voting against.
Motion ‘rewards Hamas,’ says Liberal MP
MP Anthony Housefather, one of the Liberals who voted no, said Canada’s Jewish community is feeling “demoralized and intimidated” as it grapples with a spike in antisemitism.
In a speech to the Commons, Housefather said the motion “rewards Hamas,” because it creates “a false equivalency between the State of Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.”
“Canada should be standing with Israel. Canada should be defending the right of Israel to fight back against a terrorist organization. We should not be passing motions that make a terrorist organization equivalent to a democratic state,” he said.
Liberal MP says he has to reflect after Liberals voted for amended motion on Palestinian statehood
Anthony Housefather says he felt ‘a line [was] crossed’ when his caucus colleagues applauded the NDP MP who brought forward a motion on Palestinian statehood Monday. Housefather says he is reflecting on the motion and whether he can stay in the role of parliamentary secretary. The Liberal government endorsed an amended version of the motion.
The amended motion passed by the Commons does describe Hamas as “a listed terrorist organization.”
The government agreed to language demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza — but added the stipulation that Hamas “must lay down its arms.”
Asked if he could stay on as a parliamentary secretary after the government’s endorsement, Housefather told CBC News he would “take the time to reflect.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday before question period, Housefather, who appeared emotional, said he’s re-evaluating his place in the Liberal caucus after last night’s vote. He said he’d “take the time to reflect” on whether he can stay on as a parliamentary secretary.
“I truly felt last night that a line had been crossed,” Housefather said.
“When my party members cheered and gave a standing ovation to Heather McPherson and the NDP, I started reflecting on whether or not I belonged. I didn’t feel like some MPs — or a lot of MPs — understood the existential threat that Israel faces.
“I am such a proud Canadian but I also care passionately about the state of Israel because it’s the only refuge for Jewish people when they’re exiled or thrown out of countries. You need an Israel.”
He said the government didn’t have to vote for an NDP opposition day motion — it made a choice to adopt something that’s been widely panned by many Jewish Canadians, he said. “It easily could have been voted down,” he said. “That should have been the course.”
While he’s uneasy about his place in the party he’s called home for most of his life, Housefather said his colleagues have shown him “a lot of love.”
CIJA, a Jewish advocacy group, said stripping the unilateral recognition of Palestine from the motion was the result of “substantial mobilization of the pro-Israel community,” but it still criticized the motion as passed.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Liberal government has chosen to effectively sub-contract Canadian foreign policy to anti-Israel radicals within the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois,” the group said in a statement following the vote.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a vocal critic of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and an advocate of Canada taking a harder line against the Jewish state and its leadership, said it was pleased by what it described as “a historic vote.”
“Canada voted in favour of Palestine today,” the group said. “That is history.”
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather says he’ll take time to reflect on the motion and whether he can continue to serve as a parliamentary secretary. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The NCCM said it was happy with what it described as the motion’s call for “a weapons embargo” and a passage that would impose “sanctions on settlers” — a reference to one passage of the motion that calls on the government to impose sanctions on “extremist” Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have attacked Palestinians.
Salma Zahid, a Liberal MP who backed the motion from the start, said “a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions” is unfolding in Gaza and Canada must do something.
She said that given the massive civilian death toll in Gaza, Canada needs to “do more than just wag its finger” at the Israeli government over its actions.
Zahid was particularly critical of the Israeli government’s tacit acceptance of settlements in the West Bank.
Those settlements, which are seen as illegal under international law, have been described as an impediment to the creation of a future Palestinian state.
“It is time for Canada to stand up and be counted. Canadians are looking to us. They expect us to lead. They expect us to act. Either we stand for peace and justice, or we do not,” she said.
OTTAWA – Inflation finally hit the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target in August after a tumultuous battle with skyrocketing price growth, raising the odds of larger interest rate cuts in the coming months.
Canada’s annual inflation rate fell from 2.5 per cent in July to reach the lowest level since February 2021.
The slowdown can be attributed in part to lower gasoline prices, Statistics Canada said Tuesday in its consumer price index report.
Clothing and footwear prices also decreased on a month-over-month basis. It marked the first decline in the month of August since 1971 as retailers offered larger discounts to entice shoppers amid slowing demand.
CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham says the latest data suggests inflation is no longer threatening and the Bank of Canada should focus on stimulating the economy again.
“I’m already worried that the economy is a little weaker than it really needed to be to get inflation down to two per cent,” Grantham said.
The marked slowdown in price growth last month was steeper than the 2.1 per cent annual increase forecasters were expecting ahead of Tuesday’s release and will likely spark speculation of a larger interest rate cut next month from the Bank of Canada.
Grantham noted that excluding mortgage interest costs — which have been driven up by high interest rates — the annual inflation rate was only 1.2 per cent last month.
The Bank of Canada’s preferred core measures of inflation, which strip out volatility in prices, also edged down in August.
Benjamin Reitzes, managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist at BMO, said Tuesday’s figures “tilt the scales” slightly in favour of more aggressive cuts, though he noted the Bank of Canada will have one more inflation reading before its October rate announcement.
“If we get another big downside surprise, calls for a 50 basis-point cut will only grow louder,” wrote Reitzes in a client note.
Governor Tiff Macklem recently signalled that the central bank is ready to increase the size of its interest rate cuts, if inflation or the economy slow by more than expected.
“With inflation getting closer to the target, we need to increasingly guard against the risk that the economy is too weak and inflation falls too much,” Macklem said after announcing a rate cut on Sept. 4.
The Canadian economy has slowed significantly under the weight of high interest rates, leading to a declining real gross domestic product on a per person basis.
The unemployment rate has also been steadily climbing for the last year and a half, reaching 6.6 per cent in August.
Macklem has emphasized that the inflation target is symmetrical — meaning the Bank of Canada is just as concerned with inflation falling below target as it is with it rising above the benchmark.
The central began rapidly hiking interest rates in March 2022 in response to runaway inflation, which peaked at a whopping 8.1 per cent that summer.
The Bank of Canada increased its key lending rate to five per cent and held it at that level until June 2024, when it delivered its first rate cut in four years.
A combination of recovered global supply chains and high interest rates have helped cool price growth in Canada and around the world.
CIBC is forecasting the central bank will cut its key rate by two percentage points between now and the middle of next year.
The Bank of Canada’s key rate currently stands at 4.25 per cent.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected on Wednesday to deliver its first interest rate cut in four years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
TORONTO – Police say a man is dead after an industrial accident at Ontario Place.
Toronto police say officers responded shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to reports that a person was injured by construction equipment at the waterfront
Police say he died at the scene.
Ontario Place is set to be redeveloped under a controversial provincial plan that includes a new privately owned spa and a relocated Ontario Science Centre.
Police say the Ministry of Labour has been notified.
The ministry investigates all workplace deaths.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
HALIFAX – Police investigating the 2022 disappearance of a Halifax teen have charged two men following the discovery of human remains.
Halifax Regional Police say 26-year-old Treyton Alexander Marsman was arrested Monday and later charged with second-degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Devon Sinclair Marsman.
Police say a 20-year-old man who was a youth at the time of the crime has been charged with being an accessory after the fact and obstructing justice.
Investigators did not say where or when the remains were found, but they confirmed the province’s medical examiner has been called in to identify the remains.
As well, police did not indicate the relationship between Treyton Marsman and the victim, but they said the accused had also been charged with causing an indignity to human remains and obstructing justice.
Devon Marsman was last seen on Feb. 24, 2022 and he was reported missing from the Spryfield area of Halifax the following month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
