Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is asking Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly to apologize after she demanded the same thing from him following a tense exchange on anti-Semitism. Neither are likely ready to make a mea culpa.
“It’s incredible that in Canada, the Minister of Foreign Affairs does not have the courage to denounce genocidal and hateful remarks directed at our Jewish community,” he said Tuesday during a press scrum. in the foyer of the House of Commons.
The day before, Mr. Poilievre had accused the minister of “giving in to Hamas sympathizers and the Liberal Party as part of her leadership campaign rather than doing her job.”
The Conservative leader criticized Mme Joly, during question period, for not having taken two opportunities that he had previously given him to “condemn the terrifying and increasingly common anti-Semitic chants that we hear in the streets”. He had just read slogans such as “Israel will soon disappear” and asked her to denounce them.
Mme Joly, who appears to have no intention of apologizing, said Tuesday that she denounces such comments “every day.”
“When it comes to the question of anti-Semitism, I condemn it. Hamas is a sanctioned terrorist group. I said yesterday that, precisely, we condemned Hamas,” she replied.
On Monday, she replied to Mr. Poilievre that the day of October 7, marking the 1er anniversary of the surprise attack by Hamas against Israel which kicked off the war raging in the Middle East, was a poor choice for “playing politics”.
“We are all, I hope, in this House, against any form of anti-Semitism and discrimination and I really hope that my colleague opposite will apologize,” she retorted. His liberal colleagues then stood up and applauded wildly.
Mr. Poilievre then returned to the charge by maintaining that October 7 is a favorite day for “a government to stand up for what is right.”
At the end of question period on Monday, the Speaker of the House, Greg Fergus, asked Mr. Poilievre to withdraw his remarks at the first opportunity, which the latter had still not done on Tuesday.
Mr. Fergus indicated that he would deprive the Conservative leader of his right to speak in the House for the entire day of Tuesday unless he apologized.
“I demand that Minister Joly apologize,” Mr. Poilievre told journalists. He believes that an increase in anti-Semitism cannot be attributed to the aftermath of the attack on October 7, 2023. In his opinion, the approach of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals is rather to blame.
“It is because of the divisive approach with extreme ideology imposed by this government,” he argued.
The House leader of the government, Karina Gould, deplored Monday that Mr. Poilievre questions the Liberals’ opposition to anti-Semitism and their condemnation of the violence carried out by Hamas.
“It is not excusable to infer that there is a connection with a terrorist group,” said the woman who is a descendant of Holocaust survivors.