THE INTERNET POST

Canada, a one-time independent-minded NATO member whose diplomatic offices were once valued by Third World governments as a trusted liaison to Washington, is now considered by many nations as more right-wing and anti-Muslim and anti-Arab than the United States. Canada’s recent decision to expel the Iranian embassy staff in Ottawa and call home Canadian diplomats in Tehran at the behest of Israel supporters in the Canadian Conservative Party and their allies in the right-wing government of Israel is a testament to Canada’s far-right foreign policy.

Immediately, after Canada’s suspension of relations with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Shimon Peres, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations praised Harper’s decision.

On September 4, Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Pauline Marois was celebrating her victory in Quebec’s election in Montreal when a gunman named Richard Henry Bain, a local businessman, shot his way into the victory celebration venue, shooting two PQ supporters, killing one. Montreal law enforcement officials claimed later that Marois was the target of an assassination attempt. The history of the PQ, which advocates independence for Quebec, strongly suggests that Marois was targeted because of the pro-Palestinian policies of the PQ. Many PQ supporters, who feel that French-speaking Quebec deserves independence, have affinity with the plight of Palestine.