Photo: Sean Kilpatrick La Presse canadienne Des conservateurs se sont opposés à une motion du Bloc qui s’indigne des récentes frappes israéliennes à Rafah.
The refusal of at least one conservative elected official was enough to defeat a motion calling for an end to operations in Rafah on Wednesday, which earned the Bloc Québécois a reprimand for not ensuring that there was a consensus in Ottawa on the issue.
“It is important to receive the agreement of each of the political parties” before attempting to table a motion by unanimous consent, recalled the Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus. “It uses the House’s time more efficiently. »
He was speaking to Bloc Québécois MP Stéphane Bergeron, himself exasperated at having been interrupted by a rebuff from the Conservative benches 11 seconds after having started to read the motion that he was trying to have unanimously adopted in Parliament.
The Bloc Québécois devoted its questions to the Prime Minister on Wednesday to the theme of the conflict between Israel and Hamas raging in the Gaza Strip. He then tried to have his motion adopted, which notably asks that the House be outraged by the recent Israeli strikes in Rafah.
The text, which was never able to be read in full, also proposed to call for an end to operations in Rafah and to reiterate that there are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians, in addition to demanding respect for international law, a cease -immediate fire and release of the hostages. The opposition of a single elected official was able to prevent the adoption of the text. It was not possible to know the number of elected officials who opposed it or their identity.
The motion broadly reflected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's most recent statement on the issue on Tuesday. The Bloc Québécois claims to have had the approval of all the other parties in Ottawa to table this motion, with the exception of the Conservatives.
The office of the Liberal leader in the House confirmed that its troops had not opposed it, while elected officials from the New Democratic Party took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Wednesday which demanded an end to the sending of weapons to Israel.
Concerned by Israel's actions
Questioned by the Bloc leader, Yves-François Blanchet, Prime Minister Trudeau did not want to say what he thought of the idea of bringing in an international peacekeeping force in Gaza. The head of government reiterated that he was ready to recognize the State of Palestine at the appropriate time, and that he would “support the process” of international justice against Israel.
“We are very, very concerned by the violence in Gaza and by the devastating actions of the Israeli army in Rafah,” said Justin Trudeau.
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At the National Assembly of Quebec, the Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie, Martine Biron, indicated that her government was “truly horrified by what is happening”, but that he did not consider that it was in Quebec to recognize Palestine as a country, as Québec solidaire asks.
“I do not think that it is our role to recognize or not the outcome of 'a negotiation that is not even underway. Let us hope that this negotiation takes place, that they come to a solution, and we will ultimately see whether we support it or not. But it’s not really up to us to decide that. »
Last week, the Israeli ambassador told Devoir that his country feels unfairly targeted when Canada insists on the importance of respecting international law in the armed conflict in Gaza.
The Conservative Party of Canada did not wish to specify which part of the motion posed a problem to it. In recent months, leader Pierre Poilievre has increased his declarations of support for Israel. His party notably condemned the actions of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court which target the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This war began on October 7 with the massacre brutal and kidnapping of Israeli and Canadian civilians and can end as soon as Hamas releases the hostages, lays down its arms and surrenders unconditionally,” indicated the spokesperson for the leader of the official opposition, Marion Isabeau-Ringuette , in a written declaration sent to Devoir.