Just one week before the U.S. and Israel launched a flurry of military strikes on Iran, the parliamentary secretary to Canada’s foreign affairs minister said Canada would oppose any such incursion.
“Minister Anand has been very clear that we do not support an American strike [on Iran]. Very clear. And that is the Canadian position,” Liberal MP Rob Oliphant said during a Feb. 20 town hall event in Toronto.
“We do not believe in non-UN-sanctioned military action. We don’t do that.”
But on Feb. 28, the day the operation began, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand issued a statement supporting the U.S.-Israeli campaign.
“Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security,” the statement says.
Days later, as the strikes set off a wider regional conflict, Carney appeared to soften his support.
In a March 4 press conference in Sydney, Australia, Carney said Canada supports the strikes “with regret” and described the conflict as “another example of the failure of the international order.”
The conflicting remarks raise questions about Canada’s official position on the conflict — and point to simmering divisions within the Liberal Party.
Cabinet contradictions
The United States and Israel’s strikes on Iran were carried out without authorization from the United Nations Security Council and outside any NATO framework.
Under international law, the use of military force by one state against another is generally prohibited unless authorized by the UN Security Council or justified as an act of self-defence.
In his initial statement on the conflict, Carney said Canada supports American efforts to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear capabilities.
But since then, Carney has questioned the legality of the U.S.-Israeli military action.
“While Canada was not asked to participate … we were not informed in advance … prima facie, it appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law,” Carney told reporters during the March 4 press conference.
“So we would not have been in a position this … weekend … to take a judgment that met our standards, if we had been asked to participate.”
Minister of National Defence David McGuinty has said the government supports the U.S.-Israeli military action — while simultaneously calling for it to stop.
“The prime minister and the government decided from the beginning of this that we would support this incursion, but we’re also calling for a diplomatic end to it,” McGuinty told reporters on March 3 while travelling with Carney in Sydney.
“We very much would prefer to see peace and a ceasefire. That’s what my colleague Minister Anand is driving forward now with her colleagues around the world,” said McGuinty.
“And so we’ll see where this takes us.”
Minister Anand, for her part, says she was not aware of her parliamentary secretary Rob Oliphant’s Feb. 20 town hall statements. Parliamentary secretaries are responsible for assisting cabinet ministers with their parliamentary duties and helping represent the minister’s portfolio in the House of Commons.
“I was not aware that he made those remarks,” Anand told Canadian Affairs during a March 4 press conference in Ottawa.
“Our position was confirmed by Prime Minister Carney in his remarks yesterday … as well as in the statement that he issued on Saturday, and again yesterday,” she added.
Anand told Canadian Affairs she last spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 1 along with the other G7 foreign ministers.
‘Well postured’
Canada’s military position in the region also remains unclear.
The Department of National Defence currently lists Operation AMARNA as one of its ongoing operations in the Middle East.
AMARNA allows the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) “to be well-postured for crisis response in the Middle East, while remaining committed to supporting regional peace and security,” the department’s website says.
Neither Global Affairs Canada nor the Prime Minister’s Office responded to emailed questions regarding the status of AMARNA.
A DND spokesperson told Canadian Affairs that all CAF personnel deployed in the region are “currently safe and accounted for”, while noting that “for operational security reasons, the CAF does not disclose specific force protection measures.”
“The safety and security of all deployed CAF personnel remains our top priority,” the spokesperson added.
Speaking to reporters at a defence conference in Ottawa on March 5, Lt.-Gen. Steve Boivin stated that there are “just over 200” CAF members currently on deployment in the Middle East.
Opposition voices
Some Western governments, such as Ukraine and Australia, have expressed clear support for the U.S.-Israeli strikes. But others have challenged the legitimacy of the military action.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has emerged as one of the most vocal Western critics, warning the U.S. and Israel’s actions are likely to lead to a wider conflagration.
Within Canada, at least one member of the Liberal caucus has spoken out against the strikes: Will Greaves, a first-term MP who represents the Victoria riding in B.C.
“We can be clear-eyed about Iran’s human rights record, and its abuses, and the destructive role that it has played in the Middle East — and still insist on consistency, restraint and the protection of civilians,” Greaves said in a March 1 video posted to Instagram. “Because that’s what credibility looks like in a fractured world.
“But Canada cannot endorse the unilateral and illegal use of military force, the killing of civilians … while also insisting that our sovereignty, our rights and our independence must be respected.”
Canadian Affairs sought comment from Greaves and more than 20 other Liberal MPs — including all five Liberal members of the House Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs — about their position on the war.
None provided comment.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Australia, on March 5, Prime Minister Carney said he would not rule out the possibility of contributing Canadian troops to the war.
“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said. “We will always stand by and defend our allies when called upon.”
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