Commentary
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously
addressed a joint session of Congress the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour during the Second World War. His opening line, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy,” is immediately recognizable.
Political leaders have since used FDR’s words to depict everything from full-scale wars to political controversies. The train wreck that occurred in the Canadian Parliament this past week could easily fit in the latter category.
This refers to the vile, non-binding NDP motion to recognize the state of Palestine. It was first
tabled by its foreign affairs critic, Heather McPherson, on Feb. 13. “The Palestinian people have the right to a state, and this right is nearly universally recognized at the United Nations,” she said. “The United States and United Kingdom have said they are looking into avenues to recognize the State of Palestine and Canada must do the same.”
The motion mostly floated under the radar. Canada had nominally supported the concept of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine in the past. With the Israel-Hamas war having raged on for almost six months, and heightened tensions involving Canada’s Jewish, Arab, and Muslim communities, the issue of Palestinian statehood was a non-starter. It was another example of the NDP, which has been repeatedly accused of having a bias (or worse) against Israel and Jews, stirring up the pot in a desperate attempt for attention. Most political observers viewed it as bluster that would quickly disintegrate.
Yet, this seemingly meaningless motion took on a life of its own.
Debate was supposed to begin on Mar. 1. The passing of former prime minister Brian Mulroney on Feb. 29, along with two consecutive break weeks for MPs, delayed things. Fortunately, there was enough time for the NDP and Liberals to sit down, make the necessary adjustments—and, with luck, allow cooler heads to prevail.
These conversations apparently didn’t happen until the bitter end. The Liberals only held an “emergency meeting” about the motion, as the National Post
described it, on the weekend of March 16–17. That’s more than a month after McPherson’s controversial motion was proposed. Sleeping dogs shouldn’t have been allowed to lie for this long.
The NDP announced on March 18 it would force a vote on the
motion. It outlined “nine steps” to stop the fighting in Gaza, which
included that the Liberals “demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” “suspend trade in military goods and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas,” and “recognize the State of Palestine as a step towards a two-state solution.”
What did the Liberals do? They panicked.
The government has been badly divided on this war. Liberal MP Salma Zahid was in
favour of the NDP motion as is. Others were reportedly onside, too. Caucus colleague Anthony Housefather took a different approach. He
wrote on social media that certain measures were “hostile to Israel” and “Changing foreign policy to reward a terrorist attack. Not smart.” He was going to oppose it.
There was no means of achieving caucus unity. A whipped vote could have created a larger split that would be nearly impossible to stitch back together. The distance between the Liberals and NDP was almost seismic.
Senior Liberals furiously scrambled to find a solution (that should have already been in place) before the scheduled vote at 7:30 p.m. The National Post
reported it included “frenzied last-minute negotiations, the surprise rewrite” and the “significant climbdown by the NDP from its most controversial demands.” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly got involved at the 11th hour. House leader Steven MacKinnon was “shuffling with a new stack of papers” that were “scribbled with pen marks and edits,” and announced he was “tabling last-second amendments” at 7:09 p.m.
The motion was ultimately amended just under the wire. Canada would “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime. Hamas would have to “lay down its arms.” Palestinian statehood was dropped in favour of working “towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution.” It passed by a vote of 204–117. The Conservatives and three Liberal MPs—Housefather, Marco Mendicino, and Ben Carr—opposed the motion. The NDP obtusely declared it a “historic” moment.
The motion is non-binding. The Liberal government, and all governments that follow, can disregard it. Nevertheless, it’s now a matter of the public record that this offensive and largely anti-Israel motion was approved in Canada. Historians will be able to access it through Hansard from now to eternity.
That’s why it’s a week in Canadian politics that will live in infamy.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
