The Goofball of the Month for August is the Liberal's associate foreign affairs critic; Borys Wrzesnewskyj... say that 5 times fast. For his comments indicating Canada should remove Hezbollah from the country's list of terrorist organizations.
Joel Kom, CanWest News Service; Ottawa CitizenPublished: Tuesday, August 22, 2006
OTTAWA - An Ontario Liberal MP came under political fire Monday, including his own, for comments indicating Canada should remove Hezbollah from the country's list of terrorist organizations remarks he denies making.
Borys Wrzesnewskyj, the Liberals' associate foreign affairs critic, was quoted in media reports Monday from Lebanon saying he favoured lifting the terrorist label from Hezbollah, which has been on Canada's terror list since 2002.
But Wrzesnewskyj, who was in Lebanon with two other MPs on a fact-finding mission over the weekend organized by the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, released a statement Monday saying he made no such comments.
''On the contrary, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and I stated that it must remain on Canada's list because it has committed war crimes by sending rockets into civilian areas,'' the statement said.
What he did say, the statement added, was that Canada needs to evaluate anti-terror legislation so that it can negotiate with groups on the list in order to implement a peace process.
Wrzesnewskyj could not be reached for comment Monday as he prepared to board a flight out of the Syrian capital of Damascus en route to a Liberal caucus retreat in Vancouver.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he was glad to see Wrzesnewskyj denied the initial reports, but Day criticized talk of altering legislation.
''You don't accommodate people who are carrying out a plan of genocide,'' Day said from his B.C. riding.
Canada has indeed communicated to Hezbollah despite its terror listing, Day said, referring to a G-8 communique that called for the group to disarm and disavow its intent to destroy Israel.
Wrzesnewskyj's comments also attracted the attention of his own party.
In a statement, Grit Leader Bill Graham said his party views Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and it ''should be treated as such under all applicable Canadian laws.''
''Hezbollah is committed to the overthrow of the state of Israel and has demonstrated in both words and actions that it is committed to a policy of violent anti-Semitism. The government of Canada must condemn such groups as strongly as possible ... That is why it was the Liberal Party of Canada that originally listed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization under Canadian law and why we still strongly support keeping Hezbollah on that list. Any suggestion to the contrary does not reflect the official position of our party.
Dr. Keith Martin, the Liberals' acting foreign affairs critic, also said the comments didn't reflect the Liberal position and he would be talking with Wrzesnewskyj ''as soon as he gets off the plane.''
''I'm certainly going to have a word with him that in such a sensitive place as the Middle East, we do not have the luxury of simply voicing opinions that are diametrically different from what the party's position is,'' he said.
As for possibly remaking terror legislation to negotiate with Hezbollah, Martin said the group has to ''renounce their position that they want to obliterate Israel and kill Jews'' before negotiations can start, something with which Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe later agreed in a statement The Canada-Israel Committee National called on Graham to censure Wrzesnewskyj and relieve him of his position as deputy foreign affairs critic.
"Hezbollah, like its Palestinian cousin Hamas, has been identified as a terrorist entity by Canada alongside scores of our traditional allies, both for its rejection of Israel's right to exist and its long and horrendous inventory of terrorist attacks throughout the world,'' committee national chair Marc Gold said in a statement. ''A terrorist organization is always at the core of the problem, never part of the solution; this merits no consideration by Canada or any other civilized state."
NDP MP Peggy Nash, who was in Lebanon along with Wrzesnewskyj and Bloc Quebecois MP Maria Mourani, said Hezbollah is responsible for starting the latest conflict with Israel that led to ''incredible, incredible devastation'' in Lebanon. The terrorist label on Hezbollah could hinder any progress the Lebanese government might make towards peace, she said. But she said she has not called for Hezbollah to be removed from the terror list.
''I'm not here to set policy on Hezbollah,'' she said from Damascus, where she was awaiting a flight to Cairo. ''We did not meet with them because they are classified as a terrorist organization by our government.''
NDP Leader Jack Layton said he didn't understand why Wrzesnewskyj raised the issue of a list at all.
''I doubt that at this point the question of lists is very important to the combatants,'' he said from Quebec City.
Hezbollah should be involved in ceasefire talks because of its primary role in the conflict, and Canada should be working as a mediator a role Prime Minister Stephen Harper has abandoned to marshal global support for those talks, Layton said.
It was under the Liberal government of Jean Chretien that Hezbollah was put on the terror list four years ago. Criminal or security-intelligence reports are submitted to the government when it considers listing a group, said Canadian Security Intelligence Service spokesman Giovanni Cotroneo. The list is reviewed every two years to see if any group should be removed, Cotroneo added. The last review came earlier this year, and now there are now 39 groups on the list.
While it's not a crime to be listed, it is a crime to contribute to such a group in any way, and being on the list means a group's property can be frozen, seized or restrained.
Ottawa Citizen
Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj has resigned as foreign affairs critic following his controversial remark.
Jason Kenney you were a close second. Unfortunately Borys came first before your goof. But I'm sure it won't be the last we hear from you.
Congratulations Borys! You're the Goofball of the Month for August 2006.
