.JPG)
VANCOUVER (CP) - Divisions within the Liberal party over the Middle East deepened Tuesday with two leadership contenders calling for the resignation of the party's deputy foreign affairs critic. Scott Brison and Carolyn Bennett said fellow Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj cannot retain his post as a foreign affairs spokesman after declaring that Canada should negotiate directly with Hezbollah as part of a bid to restore peace in Lebanon. "Borys should resign as critic. His statements were unacceptable," Brison said, noting that it was a Liberal government that first listed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Wrzesnewskyj's comments, made over the weekend during a tour of the Middle East with NDP and Bloc colleagues, became the unwelcome focus on the first of the Liberals' three-day summer caucus retreat, which was supposed to plot strategy for the fall session of Parliament. The 10 leadership hopefuls weighed in to repudiate Wrzesnewskyj's comments, including his own preferred candidate, Gerard Kennedy. Apart from Brison and Bennett, however, most contenders said Wrzesnewskyj should be given a chance to explain himself to caucus before any decision is made on his critic's post.
The controversy, the latest in a series of damaging remarks by Liberals on the explosive Middle East situation, left some frustrated MPs complaining that the prolonged leadership race is to blame for the party's lack of coherence on issues, particularly the conflict in Lebanon. "I think what these divisions show is that the Liberals are in a leadership race," said Montreal MP Irwin Cotler. "Until a permanent leader is chosen, you're not going to get the same uniform, consistent and clear policy that can be articulated by someone like Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper on behalf of his government and party." Wrzesnewskyj was initially reported as saying that Hezbollah should be dropped from the list of terrorist organizations. He denied having said that. "I've said all along that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and will continue to be," Wrzesnewskyj said on Monday from Lebanon. "Where I have difficulty is with the legislation that says a group on the list cannot be communicated with."
The three opposition parties immediately reacted by stepping away from the comments of their MPs and underlining their support for Hezbollah's terrorist designation. The Liberals are facing particularly harsh criticism in recent weeks in relation to their Mideast policy - or lack thereof - in the midst of a leadership race. A number of prominent members of Canada's Jewish community, including power couple Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman, have left the party over its perceived lack of support for Israel's bombardment of Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon.
Brison said Wrzesnewskyj has "complicated" the issue for the Liberals. "It's always a challenge during a prolonged leadership process to maintain unity on difficult issues. But I think it requires individual members of caucus to have that discipline," Brison said. "Borys' statements don't reflect that discipline or that capacity to govern."
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary lashed out at the trio of opposition MPs visiting Lebanon, comparing Hezbollah to the German Nazi party of the 1930s. "We need to learn the lessons of history. There was another political party in the past which had democratic support, which provided social services, which played an important role in the political life of Germany in the 1930s, which was also dedicated to violence against the Jewish people," Kenney told a news conference Tuesday. "The world was wrong to negotiate with that party then, and it would be wrong to negotiate with Hezbollah today."
| “Former cabinet minister Denis Coderre marched recently in a peace rally in Montreal that included Hezbollah supporters hoisting the organization's flag. Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe was also at the event.” |
Both Hubert and Wrzesnewskyj are supporters of leadership hopeful Kennedy, who quickly distanced himself from their remarks. Kennedy stressed that his own opinions on Hezbollah are different than Wrzesnewskyj's. "I think that you can't sanction violence. We have to operate according to principles and one of the principles is not to acknowledge bodies that will not abide by basic human rights and international law," Kennedy said.
Some Liberals tried to put a positive spin on the latest controversy. Michael Ignatieff, the presumed leadership frontrunner who made his own gaffe on the Middle East earlier this month when he suggested he wasn't losing sleep over the loss of civilian lives in Lebanon, praised Liberals for being willing to debate sensitive issues. "The Liberal party has become the centre of national debate on these issues," he said. Similarly, Kennedy said a lot of the debate and difference of opinion is "healthy." "It's not comfortable, it's not easy and there's tremendous emotions on the part of a wide swath of Canadians on this," he said.
Graham has faced some internal criticism for not being able to control Liberal MPs like Wajid Khan, who has temporarily left caucus to act as special adviser to Harper on the Middle East. But he suggested that having a variety of views within the party is healthier and more democratic than the way in which Conservative MPs are muzzled. "We don't have an iron-clad discipline around our members . . . Nobody's got them locked up on a bus and thrown away the key, the way (it was done) at a recent caucus of the Conservatives."
Leadership hopeful Bob Rae agreed that "there's always room for discussion in a party." But he added: "I do worry as a potential leader about the amount of freelancing that's going on. There does need to be some discipline and some cohesiveness."