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. 

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."