Lawmakers on the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee are expected to resume a heated debate later this morning on the quickest path for Canada to recognize a Palestinian state.
Sources told CBC News last week that text of the motion, first tabled by Liberal MPs in the committee’s closed-door meeting last Thursday, calls for committee members to dedicate four meetings to considering the issue.
CBC News agreed not to identify the sources as they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.
Sources said last week that Liberal MPs had secured support for the motion from NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs on the committee, but the vote was blocked by Conservative MPs.
CBC News reached out to committee members from multiple political parties for comment, but they declined, citing the confidentiality of the closed-door meeting.
NDP says there’s no time for debate
The NDP has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to immediately recognize a Palestinian state.
“We’re at a very dangerous time on this issue. This is not the time for an investigation, this is not the time for further debate,” New Democrat foreign affairs critic Heather MacPherson told reporters at a press conference on Monday.
She said the Liberals could miss their chance at recognising a Palestinian state if they wait too long and are defeated by the opposition Conservatives in the next election.
The House of Commons passed a watered-down NDP motion last March calling on the government to work toward “the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution.” The motion was supported by almost the entire Liberal caucus, but the Conservatives voted against it.
MacPherson originally introduced a motion calling for Canada to immediately recognize the state of Palestine. He has introduced a separate motion in the House of Commons, also calling for immediate recognition.
As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, McPherson was aware of last Thursday’s closed-door debate, but told reporters he would not answer questions about it.
“Hopefully there will be a public vote soon, but I cannot, and committee members should not, comment on anything that is done behind closed doors,” she said.
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the war erupted in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, leaving some 1,139 people dead and hundreds taken hostage.
Shimon Kofler-Fogel, president and CEO of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, called the motion, which was presented to the committee this morning, “reckless.”
“I am concerned that it will become more about politics and political theater than it will be about providing a meaningful contribution that will advance peace in the region,” he said.
Vogel argued that Canada’s immediate recognition of a Palestinian state would be retribution to Hamas and its allies “for their unprovoked and unjustified attack on Israel on October 7, almost a year ago. And it would send a message to all those who choose terror, rather than negotiation, as a means to achieve their political ends.”
Stephen Brown, president and CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, disagreed, saying Canada should move toward statehood as soon as possible in the interest of peace.
“There are millions of people who want to have the right to self-determination and live in peace,” he said, “and if, as Canadians, we believe that the best way to achieve peace in the Middle East is two states, then what we have to do is make peace a priority and do whatever we can to move towards peace.”
The Canadian government was one of 25 countries that abstained from a UN General Assembly vote last May to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestinian representatives and to reconsider the Security Council’s request for UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
The vote marks a shift in Canada’s stance at the United Nations, where the country has in the past tended to simply vote against similar intergovernmental resolutions.
Trudeau spoke out in May against Israel closing the door to a two-state solution and criticized Hamas for putting civilian lives at risk.
“There is no possibility of a negotiated solution,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters at a press conference on Monday.
“We therefore reserve the right to be able to recognise a Palestinian state at the appropriate time, and that is why we are working with like-minded countries to identify what the conditions for this appropriate time would be.”