Government MPs presented a motion to study Palestinian statehood at committee, sources say

Liberal MPs presented a motion to study a path toward recognizing Palestinian statehood on Thursday, CBC News has learned.

The text of the motion — presented in a closed-doors session of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee — calls for the government to find the quickest way toward recognizing a Palestinian state and asks the committee to dedicate four study sessions toward the matter, sources said.

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

CBC News reached out to several MPs on the committee across party lines, but none agreed to offer a comment, citing the confidentiality of its in-camera sessions.

The sources said the motion found approval with the committee's NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs, but did not go to a vote because it was filibustered by Conservative members. 

Sources also said the committee will return to examining the text on Tuesday, in a session that may be open to the public if the motion is put to a vote. 

Inching closer to recognition 

The death toll has continued to mount in the Israel-Hamas conflict, which began in October 2023 when the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Since then, the Hamas-run Health Ministry has said more than 40,000 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military strikes against Gaza, which Hamas controls. 

Ottawa has inched closer to recognition of Palestinian statehood in the intervening months.

In March, the House of Commons passed a softened NDP motion that called for the government to work for the "establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution," with the backing of nearly the full Liberal government caucus. 

Then, in May, Canada was one of 25 countries to abstain from a United Nations General Assembly vote to grant 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.

The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state at the UN. 

The abstention marked a departure for Canada, which has habitually voted against similar UN motions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time Ottawa disagreed with Israel's resistance to a two-state solution, while adding it is "unacceptable" for Hamas to both put civilian lives in danger and refuse to recognize Israel. 

Recognition would cause controversy

Since October, the Liberal government has found itself divided on policy regarding the Middle East.

Canadian Jewish advocacy groups, such as the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, have said there should be no two-state solution without a negotiated peace settlement and that Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization under Canadian law, should not be part of the equation. 

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is Jewish, publicly mused about leaving the party after most of his caucus voted for the amended NDP motion in March. 

The government has been losing support among both Jews and Muslims as the war has continued in Gaza. 

Earlier this week, the Liberals lost a heated byelection in Montreal's Lasalle—Émard—Verdun riding to the Bloc Québécois by only 248 votes. The Liberals had made a concerted effort to court Muslim votes during the race.  

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his local candidate Craig Sauvé visited a local mosque, and Sauvé's campaign distributed pamphlets featuring an image of his face in front of a Palestinian flag. 

During that same byelection, more than 50 Liberal political staff wrote a letter telling their party leadership they refused to volunteer in any partisan activity over the government's Middle East policy, saying it was not sufficiently pro-Palestinian.