Conservative MPs are calling out the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney after its representatives failed to follow allies in proactively challenging Iran’s nomination to two United Nations bodies — including one tasked with reviewing a landmark treaty on nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Iran was nominated to the vice-presidency of the UN’s month-long review conference on the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty, better known as the NPT.
In the General Assembly on April 27, the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates either objected to or dissociated themselves from Iran’s nomination to the NPT conference. Canada did not speak out.
On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand approached reporters on Parliament Hill to offer what she called “a clarification.”
“I want to be absolutely clear that there was no vote taken on the matter, and in particular, my officials who spoke two times yesterday on the issue of Iran were completely clear, that there is absolutely no support from the Canadian government for the Iranian regime and any leadership positions it holds,” she said Tuesday.
But Canada did not directly challenge Iran’s nomination to the NPT conference in the two video clips Global Affairs Canada sent to The Canadian Press.
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Instead, the department’s political director Richard Arbeiter spoke about broader non-proliferation issues and Tehran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz after the United States launched its bombing campaign.
“Disarmament cannot gain traction if safeguards are treated as optional, or if non-compliance is met with ambiguity,” he said on April 27 at the marble dais of the General Assembly.
“The ongoing conflict linked to Iran’s nuclear program underscores that these are not abstract debates, but realities with serious regional and global consequences.”
At the UN Security Council that same day, Arbeiter spoke about Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on its neighbours, but did not refer to the NPT committee.
“Canada expresses its full solidarity with the countries of the region who have borne the brunt of Iran’s attacks,” he said.
Earlier this month, UN Watch, a group that primarily advocates for Israel, also noted that a bloc of Asian countries nominated Iran on April 8 to the UN’s economic and social council, ECOSOC, which informs how UN programs function.
Canada and most of its allies did not contest that move. The U.S. delegation was the only one to push back against Iran’s nomination on April 8.
Conservative MPs, including Melissa Lantsman and Vincent Ho, have raised the issue in the House of Commons multiple times in recent weeks. Eight days after the ECOSOC vote, the federal government issued a response.
“As the position was uncontested, there was no opportunity for a vote. The vote to elect nominated candidates will take place in the UN General Assembly in November,” MP Mona Fortier, Anand’s parliamentary secretary, told the Commons on April 16.
“Canada works closely with partners to actively counter Iran’s candidacies in UN bodies and will continue to do so on all occasions.”
Opponents of Iran’s involvement in the UN have raised Tehran’s repression of anti-regime protesters and the Iranian diaspora abroad, along with its attacks on Gulf countries after the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran.
“The government’s silence on Iran is a vote cast in its favour, no matter what they tell you,” Lantsman told Parliament. “The Liberals have never had a single position on Iran, only whichever position costs the least.”
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