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NP View: Mark Carney got it right on Iran. Then he didn't

Turns out the prime minister is a waffler

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The answer to whether or not Canada supports the war on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a murderous regime that sponsors terrorism in the Middle East and around the world, has been  needlessly complicated. Prime Minister Mark Carney seems to have settled on somewhere between “Yes, but” and “sort of.”

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Yes, Canada supports the U.S.-Israel bombing campaign, Carney confirmed on Tuesday, but he objects that it was launched without consulting the United Nations, and therefore is, apparently “inconsistent” with international law. He might have left it there, but Carney is also calling for a “rapid de-escalation of hostilities,” which would likely leave the regime intact to continue threatening its neighbours, suggesting he objects on other grounds besides legal considerations.

NP View: Mark Carney got it right on Iran. Then he didn't Back to video

Among the principled stands political leaders might take on the Iran war, there are three that are most likely: endorse the war, object on legal grounds, or object on moral grounds. Taking two of these positions muddies the message, but isn’t necessarily incoherent — for example, those who would support the war if the UN was involved. So naturally the Canadian government has elected to take all three positions at once: endorsing the campaign, lamenting the lack of UN involvement, and calling for the war to end immediately. Is this what Carney meant when he spoke of middle power leadership in Davos?

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It didn’t start out this way. On Saturday, as the U.S. and Israel started targeting the Iranian regime — taking out dozens of the regime’s top leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while degrading Iran’s military capabilities — and the Islamic Republic responded by sending waves of missiles and drones at Israeli cities, Carney was clear-eyed.

“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,” he said during his trip to India. A subsequent statement put out by Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand reiterated Canada’s principled position that: “Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East, has one of the world’s worst human rights records and must never be allowed to obtain or develop nuclear weapons”; that Israel has a “right to defend itself and to ensure the security of its people”; and that “Canada supports the United States.”

But that firm message was slowly diluted in the days that followed. We know that the Liberal caucus has frequently been divided on the Middle East, particularly when it comes to anything to do with Israel.

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On Sunday, backbench Liberal MP Will Greaves broke ranks with his leader, posting a video to Instagram claiming that, “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 be against “the unilateral and illegal use of military force, the killing of civilians or the kidnap and assassination of foreign heads of government.”

The following day, the prime minister appeared to avoid taking questions on the subject, cancelling a press conference in India at the last minute and refusing to hold court with the media when he landed in Australia. Instead, Anand presented a new, watered-down position, calling for a “diplomatic solution” to the conflict.

In a statement on Monday, she urged “all parties to prioritize the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, to return to negotiations and to advance a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.” Which came dangerously close to implying a moral equivalency between the actions of Israel and the U.S., which have been taking pains to avoid civilian casualties. Indeed, Anand’s only saving grace was that she specifically condemned Iran for carrying out strikes “on civilian infrastructure across the Middle East.”

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The inconsistent messaging was continued by Defence Minister David McGuinty on Tuesday, who reiterated Carney’s support for “the incursion led by the United States and Israel,” but then called for a “ceasefire.”

Eventually Carney himself spoke to media later, also on Tuesday, outlining his position regretting the lack of involvement of the UN, as well consultations with Canada.

The reluctance with which Prime Minister Mark Carney and his top ministers have supported the United States in its war against a murderous, oppressive regime, suggests the government seems more scared of having an openly divided caucus then of a nuclear-armed Iran unbridled by consequences.

Since the end of the 12-day war in June, Iran has allegedly tried to rebuild its nuclear weapons program and renewed nuclear talks went nowhere. And despite warnings from Trump, the regime launched a brutal crackdown on its own people for expressing their opposition to the government, with some estimating that more than 30,000 were killed in a matter of days.

A diplomatic solution that allows the Iranian regime to survive will simply be a recipe for death and destruction in the future. It will continue to repress its people. It will develop nuclear weapons, unencumbered by Khamenei’s fatwa against them, along with the technology to deliver them to targets in Israel, Europe and right here in North America. And when that day comes, it will be too late to take any action against it. The question will not be if the world will descend into nuclear war, but when the Iranians will make good on their promise to wipe Israel off the map.

Carney’s initial instinct was correct. Ottawa seems more than content to free ride off the U.S. and Israel, which are paying for a more stable and peaceful world with the blood of their young men and women. The absolute least we can do is let them know that we’re on the same side, instead of issuing boilerplate diplomatic statements about negotiated solutions and international law that are of no help to anyone.

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