Another group adds to call for Canada to take Iranian threat seriously
Open letter expresses concern over increasing efforts by Iran's regime to destabilize both the Middle East and Canada
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OTTAWA — Another group has added its voice to calls for the Canadian government to take seriously the threat posed by the Iranian regime.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney from the non-partisan Allies for a Strong Canada, the group expresses its concern over increasing efforts by Iran’s theocratic regime to destabilize both the Middle East and the greater world — specifically here in Canada.
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“Canada needs to do a better job, both in terms of the things we say out loud and the actions that we take,” Allies CEO Michael Westcott told the Toronto Sun.
“We know that the Ayatollah and his regime have taken action in Canada — we know they threatened the life of (former Justice minister) Irwin Cotler, they were responsible for the downing of the Ukraine Airlines flight with 55 Canadians on it, it’s long-been suspected they’re indirectly involved through a proxy in things like campus protests, and obviously the global network of terrorists they support, whether it’s the Houthis or Hezbollah or Hamas as well as some of the actors on the ground in places like Syria right now.”
The letter’s message, Westcott said, is simple.
“The Iranian regime is a threat to global stability, and it’s also a threat to Canada,” he said.
As Iran creeps closer to becoming a nuclear state, Israel continued its long-running efforts to squelch that threat with a series of strikes against Iranian nuclear sites this week — aided by strikes last weekend by the U.S. Air Force that crippled Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts.
The letter lists five asks of Carney: Publicly supporting Israel’s right to self-defence, strengthening Canada’s sanctions against the Iranian regime to control their dangerous nuclear ambitions, enhancing security measures to counter Iranian agents operating on Canadian soil, lead international efforts to hold the Iranian government accountable for its human rights abuses, and ensuring fleeting members of the Iranian terror state don’t find safe refuge in Canada.
High-profile Canadians have lent their names to the letter — including former PM Stephen Harper, former MP Kevin Vuong, Toronto Councillor Brad Bradford, former federal cabinet ministers Rona Ambrose, Tony Clement and John Baird, former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, and a host of business, academic and political leaders.
Whether it’s far-left, anti-Israel activists cosplaying as terrorists on city streets, agitators adoringly holding photos of Ayatollah Khamenei, or Iranian agents working behind-the-scenes right here in Canada, Westcott said action needs to be taken.
“The first and most severe victims of the Ayatollah and his regime are the Iranian people, who since 1979 have been subject to some of the worst, most degrading and most violent human rights abuses anywhere in the world,” he said.
“There needs to be consequences for that.”
Anybody wishing to read the letter, or add their name to it, can visit the Allies for a Strong Canada website.
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