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| December 5, 2007
Are the Liberals under Stephane Dion a real alternative to the Harper Conservatives? by Linda Belanger Stephane Dion received a standing ovation for his speech at the National Council on Canada Arab Relations dinner on November 23. Unfortunately a transcript of the speech is not available as we are told by his office that Mr. Dion spoke off the cuff and from the heart. To the great satisfaction of the audience, Dion stated that the Occupied Territories must be vacated by Israel and that he supports the establishment of “an independent, territorially contiguous and viable Palestinian state."This is a good start but there are a number of issues that Mr. Dion must deal with if the Liberal Party is to play a role in advancing peace through a just solution based on International Law in regards to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Dion recently appointed his leadership rival, the unelected Bob Rae to the position of Liberal Foreign Affairs critic while relegating his supporters Gerard Kennedy and Martha Hall-Findlay to behind the scenes activities. Bob Rae is a committee member of the Jewish National Fund of Canada. Although the JNF masquerades as an environmental organization, its actual mission is to acquire and develop lands exclusively for the benefit of Jews residing in Israel. The JNF's "Canada Park" which gets its name from the main source of its donations, is built in the West Bank on the ruins of three villages that that were ethnically cleansed and demolished after the 1967 Six Day war. For additional information the the JNF click here. One of Dion's first actions as Liberal leader was to appoint Irwin Cotler as the party's human rights critic. Cotler, a human rights lawyer is very selective in his defence of human rights. He is a board member of UN Watch which in spite of its innocuous name is an Israel advocacy group focusing on the United Nations and he is listed as an associate of the the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs ("JCPA"), an Israeli right-wing think tank. In the summer of 2006 Cotler gained notoriety for his vicious verbal attack on Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for her condemnation of Israel's devastating bombing of Lebanon over the capture of two Israeli soldiers. More recently, Cotler was wipping up support for an attack on Iran by repeating the false and dangerous rumour that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad advocates the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews. Ironically, he goes on to state that states that are signatories to the 1948 Geneva Convention not only have the right but the responsibility to enforce human rights law against genocide. The accusations that Ahmadinejad has advocated the destruction of Israel have proven false and of course, Cotler has never urged sanctions or condemnation of Israel for its ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. If Cotler's recent accusation of Iran for inciting genocide are any indication of the Liberal Party's position, Canada under a Liberal government would no doubt join the US and Israel if an attack on Iran takes place. More likely however, is that Dion simply does not have the spine to either muffle Cotler or shuffle him out of the shadow cabinet. Canadians who oppose war and racism will have difficult choices to make in the next election. Although there is wide consensus that Stephane Dion is a decent, sincere and honest man, from his performance so far, it is difficult to imagine that he has the leadership qualities and political savvy to restore the Liberal party that made Canada a highly regarded nation in the international community. There is widespread disappointment with Dion, not just among the Arab and Muslim community that had great hopes for him but among a broad range of people who are disappointed on a variety of issues. A year after his election as leader, the much touted renewal simply has not happenned. Money is not flowing in and volunteers were hard to come by in the recent bi-elections in Quebec. Can Canada survive another Conservative term? Will a Liberal government, dominated by Zionist Neo-liberals like Rae and Cotler be much better? Perhaps Canadians are starting to recognize this and are looking for an alternative; a recent CTV/Globe and Mail poll indicates that the Green party is now in third place nationally with 13% of the vote to the NDP's 12%. Dion's failure to realize that the neo-con Harperites have got the pro-Israel vote all sewn up indicates a lack of political acumen. The Liberals have absolutely nothing to gain by pandering to the pro-Israel vote. Dion desperately needs to show leadership in order to generate money and enthusiasm. He could do this by quietly sidelining the Zio-cons within the party and replacing them with new fresh faces who actually supported him as leader. He could increase his standing among the anti-war, peace and justice voters simply by stating that if he becomes Prime Minister his foreign policy will be based on strict adherence to international law. These two simple acts would go a long way to reassure people who are concerned with peace and justice issues that the Liberal party is worth considering on election day. |