The two frontrunners in the race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader have received poor scores from an advocacy group that supports Palestinian human rights.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) gave former central banker Mark Carney a “D+,” while former cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland, who is polling in second place behind Carney, received an “F.”
However, CJPME noted that Carney, who has never held elected office, has said little publicly about Palestine and Israel, making it harder to assess his positions on the issue. Freeland, by contrast, has served extensively in the Trudeau government, and shown herself to be, according to CJPME, “a staunch pro-Israel ideologue.”
During her tenure as foreign affairs minister from January 2017 to November 2019, CJPME noted, Freeland regularly assured Israel of Canada’s unconditional support and declared that Canada would be an “asset for Israel” if it secured a seat on the UN Security Council.
She also consistently avoided direct condemnations of Israel for its violence against Palestinians — including during its brutal war on Gaza — and used her role as foreign affairs minister to help shield Israel from international criticism.
Alex Cosh
Freeland has also shown “hostility toward the pro-Palestine movement,” according to CJPME, which noted her vote in favour of a Conservative Party motion in 2016 to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Freeland did, however, strongly condemn U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza, CJPME noted.
Michael Bueckert, CJPME’s acting president, told The Maple that Carney, who is currently expected to win the leadership race on the second ballot, has offered little indication that he will take a different approach to the issue from the Trudeau government.
Carney, like Freeland, has strongly opposed Trump’s call to ethnically cleanse Gaza. However, according to CJPME, he has also given some indications that he is hostile to the Palestine solidarity movement, such as by signing an April 2024 open letter in the Globe and Mail that was widely seen as a negative response to pro-Palestine protests.
Other candidates in the Liberal leadership race received mixed scores.
Karina Gould received a “D+,” and Liberal MP Frank Baylis, widely considered an outsider in the race, topped the pack with a “B-,” largely due to his support for immediately recognizing the State of Palestine and calling for Canada to do more to support a ceasefire in Gaza in November 2023.
Gould’s mixed record has included supporting closer ties with Israel while also defending humanitarian funding for Palestinians, according to CJPME.
She has explicitly identified herself as a Zionist, defending the ethno-nationalist ideology upon which the state of Israel is based, and voted in favour of the Conservative Party’s anti-BDS motion in 2016, along with Freeland and Baylis.
“I don’t see the same ideological hostility to Palestinians that I see with Freeland, for example,” said Bueckert of Gould. “But she is a complicated candidate.”
While Baylis is the only candidate who has gone “out of his way” to propose a concrete policy in support of Palestine, Bueckert said, the remaining candidates have largely stayed on the same page throughout the course of the campaign, with their statements focused primarily on prisoner swaps between Hamas and Israel, and Trump’s comments on Gaza.
“It’s interesting that there’s so little discrepancy between the candidates in this race [...] Given how much diversity there is within the party base on this issue,” said Bueckert.
According to an Angus Reid poll published last year, only 22 per cent of Liberal Party supporters viewed Israel favourably. Last summer, 52 Liberal staffers signed a letter stating that they would refuse to campaign for the party in a key by-election race over the Trudeau government’s response to Israel’s war on Gaza and treatment of Palestinians more generally.
The stark divisions on the issue inside the Liberal Party stand in contrast to the Conservative Party, whose base views Israel much more favourably and whose leader, Pierre Poilievre, has been an aggressive supporter of Israel for his entire political career.
Recently, Poilievre marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by calling for unquestioning loyalty to Israel and praising Israel’s war on Gaza.
Alex Cosh
Israel is accused by scholars and leading human rights organizations of waging a genocidal campaign in Gaza, and is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant for allegedly committing war crimes.
As noted by CJPME, Freeland refused to say last year whether or not she supported the ICC arrest warrants.
The Trudeau government has come under heavy criticism over its response to Israel’s war on Gaza both from within and outside the party’s ranks.
In March 2024, the government voted in favour of a temporary pause on new permits for exports of military goods to Israel. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly later said she had also suspended approximately 30 existing export permits that were authorized before Jan. 8, 2024.
Alex Cosh
While the government does not appear to have implemented a blanket ban on Canadian military exports that flow to Israel via the United States — including components found in the F-35 fighter jet — Joly did state that she had blocked a potential shipment of high-explosive mortar cartridges following a public outcry last summer.
In an emailed statement sent to The Maple this week, Global Affairs Canada said the pause on new permits for direct exports to Israel remains in effect, despite Hamas and Israel reaching a ceasefire deal in January this year.
Israel has continued to attack civilian targets in Gaza in spite of the deal, and is accused of deliberately trying to sabotage the agreement.
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