QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
September 29, 2022
Leader, I want to follow up on my question to you from yesterday about your government’s reluctance to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, as a terrorist entity, which you deflected very similarly to what your colleague, Minister Joly, did on Monday. Leader, your government’s foot-dragging on this is truly puzzling especially when you consider that in 2012 the previous government listed Iran as a state supporter of terror.
Senator Gold, why then is the main terror arm of the state not fully sanctioned and listed as a terrorist entity?
Thank you for your question. I will not repeat all the steps that the government has already taken to deal with the terrorist activities emanating from Iran. The question of whether additional steps will be taken — who may or may not be listed — is a matter that remains under serious consideration by the government. If any changes are to be introduced, they will be announced at the appropriate time.
We are continually being told how seriously you take this. Leader, when asked about this the other day, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said that the decision is not up to politicians. That it is “a careful, non-political process undertaken by Canada’s natural security agencies.” Not political.
Senator Gold, it is unbelievable that your government is trying to play this off as something that is not your responsibility, when you take it as seriously as you do, and yet it is somehow not your responsibility. Where there is a national security interest to act, officials respond, Senator Gold.
The question is a straightforward one, a yes-or-no answer, Senator Gold: Does the government believe that the IRGC is a terrorist entity or does it not?
Thank you for your follow-up question. I’m not going to take the time because I, frankly, don’t think —
Yes or no.
I don’t think that I need to educate the Senate about the division and separation of powers in a liberal democracy and how that has served Canada and its national security interests well. Suffice it to say that I stand by and support the statement of the minister to which you alluded.
