Commons committee to debate motion on quickest path to Palestinian statehood

MPs on the House of Commons foreign affairs committee are expected to resume a contentious debate later this morning on the quickest path for Canada to recognize a Palestinian state.

The text of the motion — first presented to a closed-doors session of the committee last Thursday by Liberal MPs — asks committee members to dedicate four sessions to studying the matter, sources told CBC News last week.

CBC News agreed not to identify the sources as they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. 

The sources said last week that the Liberal MPs had secured support for the motion from the committee's NDP and Bloc Québécois members, but were prevented from putting the matter to a vote by Conservative MPs.

CBC News sought comment from committee members from multiple parties. They refused, citing the confidentiality of in-camera sessions. 

NDP says no time left for debate

The NDP has been urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to immediately recognize a Palestinian state. 

"We are at a very dangerous moment in time for this. This is not a time when we need to have a study, this is not a time where we need to have further discussions,"  NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson told journalists at a news conference on Monday.

She said the Liberals could lose their chance to recognize a state of Palestine if they wait too long and are defeated in the next election by the Opposition Conservatives.

The House of Commons did pass a watered-down NDP motion last March that called on the government to work for "the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution." The motion was supported by almost the entire Liberal caucus, while the Conservatives voted against it. 

McPherson initiated that motion, which in its original form called on Canada to immediately recognize a Palestinian state. She has another motion on notice in the House of Commons that also calls for immediate recognition.

As a member of the foreign affairs committee, McPherson was privy to the in-camera discussions that took place last Thursday. She told reporters she would not answer questions about those discussions.

"Hopefully, there will be a vote that is public coming soon, but I can't comment on anything that's happened in camera and no members of that committee should have," she said.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military since war erupted in October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,139 people and taking hundreds hostage.

Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, called the motion going before the committee this morning "ill-advised."

"I fear that it is more about politics and political theatre than it is about offering a meaningful contribution that is going to advance peace in the region," he said.

Fogel argued immediate recognition of a Palestinian state by Canada would reward Hamas and its allies "for an unconscionable attack on Israelis, unprovoked, almost a year ago on October 7. And it sends a message to all of those who would opt for terrorism, as opposed to negotiation, as the route towards achieving their political aims."

Stephen Brown, president and CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, disagreed. He said Canada should move toward recognition of statehood as quickly as possible in the interests of peace.

"There are millions of people that have the right to self-determination, that want to be able to live in peace," he said. "And if we believe as Canadians that the best way to achieve peace in the Middle East is a two-state solution ... what we should be doing is prioritizing peace, and doing whatever we can to move toward peace."

The Canadian government was one of 25 countries to abstain from a United Nations General Assembly vote last May granting new "rights and privileges" to Palestinian representatives, and calling on the Security Council to reconsider their request to have a Palestinian state recognized by the UN.

That vote marked a shift in Canada's posture at the UN; it has tended simply to vote against similar UN motions. 

Prime Minister Trudeau said back in May that he disagreed with Israel shutting the door on a two-state solution, and also criticized Hamas for putting civilian lives in danger.

"There is no possibility of a negotiated outcome," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told journalists at a news conference on Monday.

"So we reserve the right to make sure that we can recognize a Palestinian state at the right time, and that is why we're working with our like-minded countries to make sure that we can identify what are the conditions for this right time."