“Sympathies” for Hamas supporters | Pierre Poilievre refuses to apologize to Mélanie Joly

(Ottawa) Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has no intention of apologizing for accusing Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly of wanting to “please Hamas sympathizers” – in fact, he is demanding that the minister do so -same act of contrition for refusing to condemn slogans heard in demonstrations.

“I claim that M^me Minister Joly apologizes for refusing to denounce genocidal and hateful comments directed towards our Jewish community. It is incredible that in Canada, a Minister of Foreign Affairs does not have the courage to denounce [de tels] remarks,” declared the Conservative leader on Tuesday.

According to him, the head of Canadian diplomacy was thus trying to “advance her agenda and her ambitions for the future leadership of the Liberals”.

This refusal of a mea culpa by Pierre Poilievre comes the day after a question period during which, on Monday, one year to the day after the attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel.

To the conservative leader who urged him to condemn slogans such as “Israel will soon disappear” and “There is only one solution: the intifada, the revolution!” », Minister Joly preferred to respond by listing the names of Canadian victims of the attack of October 7, 2023.

The leader of the official opposition quickly returned to the charge: “She continues to try to please Hamas supporters and the Liberal Party in her leadership campaign rather than doing her job,” he said. he cursed.

Outraged, Minister Joly demanded an apology.

At the end of the session, after the elected officials had observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims, the Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus made the same request. He asked Pierre Poilievre to “retract his words at the first opportunity”.

Elected by his peers, the work referee plays a non-partisan role.

Anti-Semitism: liberals blamed

In the evening, during a ceremony commemorating the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, Chief Poilievre added another layer, accusing the Liberal government of being responsible for the rise in anti-Semitism in Canada — a phenomenon that observed on a global scale^⁠1.

“This ideology that seeks to divide people on the basis of race and ethnicity, and which has led to these horrific outbursts of hatred, does not come from the bottom up. It comes from above,” he said, according to CBC^⁠.

Citing in particular the hiring of Birju Dattani as president of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, he then made this appeal on stage: “It is time for the population to change the government.”

“I hear the beep of a pager”

This is not the first scathing remark linked to the deadly conflict in the conservative opposition benches.

The New Democrats have also paid the price recently: a little over a week ago, in the House, Conservative Michael Barrett mentioned the explosions of pages by members of Hezbollah in Lebanon during an exchange with Heather McPherson, of the New Democratic Party (NDP).

“I don’t know if I hear the beep of a pager, but the member can perhaps put it on mute…” he said on September 27, when the motion was being discussed. of privilege which always paralyzes the work of the Commons.

Called to order by President Fergus, the incisive Ontario elected official withdrew his remarks.

^⁠1. Read a report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on the rise of anti-Semitism around the world since October 7, 2023 (in English)