Why do the Liberals find the easy parts so difficult?

The Liberal government waited 1,500 days after the Iran’s downing of UIA Flight 752 to name the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group. Why did it take so long?

In today’s Toronto Star column, I use the government’s inexplicable delay in declaring the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group as a prime example of why even Liberals voters think they’ve done a poor job in office.

For those of us who are worried about the all-too-regular grotesque displays of anti-Semitism in many Canadians cities following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, one has to face the reality that Iranian government agents may have had free reign during this period to financially support the worst of these agitators, or perhaps those who have been shooting-up Jewish schools in Canada’s largest cities – all because the Trudeau government hadn’t lifted a finger against the IRGC before now. We’ll never know for sure, I fear, but I’m confident that the United Church of Canada isn’t behind it.

I’ve posted the first half below; if you want to see how it ends, readers of my Substack now have a special discount code: www.thestar.com/informed

The federal Liberals might poll better if they just cut back on the obviously stupid stuff.

The most recent head-scratcher out of Ottawa was that Justin Trudeau’s government needed more than 1,500 days to weigh Iran’s downing of UIA Flight 752, not to mention the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) overt backing of global terror groups, before finally agreeing to designate the IRGC as terrorists. (The Harper government designated the Quds Force, the IRGC arm in charge of overseas operations, as a terrorist organization in 2012.) Am I the only one who recalls that it took Trudeau less than 30 days following the start of the 2022 Trucker Convoy protest to seize more than 200 bank accounts (a decision a federal court later deemed to be overreach)? 

Although they’ve had years to plan for this moment, last week’s IRGC announcement included no indication about how the Liberals intend to handle the estimated 700 Iranian agents and affiliates currently operating on our soil. After 1,500 days of navel-gazing, the government seems unwilling to take the natural next step and immediately shut down every Canadian-based fundraising entity that supports various IRGC causes.

Some issues are understandably complicated, but I cannot comprehend why the Liberals find the easy parts of governing so difficult.

As reported by the Star’s Stephanie Levitz, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers wrote to Trudeau last December and “noted the role the IRGC played in supporting Hamas before and after that group’s assault on Israel on Oct. 7th.”

The U.S. government listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity in 2019, and we should be embarrassed that 14 Congressional Representatives felt the need to publicly remind Trudeau that “in both words and deeds, the IRGC as an entity is ideologically committed to destroying Israel and undermining U.S.-Canadian security interests in the Middle East and around the world.”

American political leaders may rationalize Canada’s failure to meet our NATO defence commitments, but they can’t ignore incompetence. As we saw in the stunning results of the Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection earlier this week, nor will Canadian voters.

Remarkably, the extended holdup was Ottawa’s apparent concern that a subset of the IRGC are “low-level conscripts” who are forced into the service of a terrorist government.

Hit the link to see how it ends.

MRM

(this post, like all blogs, is an Opinion Piece)