FROM: JEWISH CANADA [news@jewishcanada.ca]
On October
18, 2006, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada,
was a special guest at the B’nai Brith Canada Award of Merit dinner in Toronto
honouring philanthropists
Walter Arbib and Surjit Babra, co-founders of the Skylink Group of Companies.
The Prime
Minister, in his first address to the Canadian Jewish community since his
election earlier this year, emphasized Canada’s support for “Israel's right to vigorous and
effective self-defence against Hezbollah”, and pledged that: “When it comes to dealing with a war between
Israel and a terrorist organization, this country and this government cannot
and will never be neutral.”
TRANSCRIPT OF PRIME
MINISTER'S SPEECH AT B'NAI BRITH AWARD DINNER
(APPLAUSE)
RT. HON. STEPHEN HARPER (Prime Minister of Canada): Thank you. Merci beaucoup. Thank you very
much. Thank you everyone. President Weinstein, vice president
Dimant, members of the B'nai Brith executive both here in Canada and
internationally, members, honoured guests and distinguished guests, mesdames et
messieurs, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, thank you Raoul, for that
kind introduction, and thank all of you; I'm very touched by that tremendous
warm welcome. I'm pleased to be here tonight…(APPLAUSE) I'm pleased to be
here tonight at B'nai Brith's annual Award of Merit dinner. It is for me
a great honour to speak to such a distinguished organization. B'nai Brith
has been active in Canada for more than 130 years. And during those
years, this organization has demonstrated not only that it is a strong voice
for the Jewish community, but also a powerful champion of the values we cherish
as Canadians: quality of opportunity, rights for everybody, democracy for all;
and I say… (APPLAUSE) And I say to all who are or have been associated with
B'nai Brith over these long years, I say simply thank you for making such an
important and lasting contribution to our country, and particularly tonight to
Walter Abib and Surgit Babra and all of you who have worked so hard, I want to
thank you for all you've done and all that I know you will do to help our great
country in the future. (APPLAUSE)
Let me talk for a few minutes about our country and about the
future. Ladies and gentlemen, since taking office, Canada's new
government has pursued a focused and active agenda. We've cut taxes,
tackled crime and introduced sweeping accountability legislation.
Tomorrow we will move forward on another front, a historic first step in fact
when we will table Canada's first clean air act, the first national regulatory
framework for the long-term control and reduction of air pollution and
greenhouse gasses. But… (APPLAUSE) But I think we in the government have
all been surprised by how much of our time in office has been consumed with
international relations.
Je parle ici bien entendu de questions si variées que l'entente sur le
bois d'œuvre entre le Canada et les États-Unis, la défense de notre
souveraineté dans l'Arctique, et notre participation dans la mission des
Nations Unies en Afghanistan.
Thinking of foreign affairs, speaking about foreign affairs, I include
issues as diverse as resolving the Canada-US softwood lumber dispute, defending
Canada's Arctic sovereignty and recommitting ourselves to the United Nations
mission in Afghanistan. In all of these things, our new government has
been actively defending and advancing this country's interests and values on
the world stage. But as all of you know, one of the most significant and
challenging foreign policy issues our new government has had to face is the
situation in the Middle East. Our approach to the Middle East, as
elsewhere, has been guided by our values: freedom, democracy, human rights, the
rule of law and the uncompromising opposition to terrorism. (APPLAUSE)
These, my friends, are not new values. They are fundamental to what this
nation has always stood for. The State of Israel, a democratic nation,
was attacked by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization; in fact, a terrorist
organization listed illegal in this country! (APPLAUSE) We are fighting
terrorists in Afghanistan. We have arrested alleged terrorists here in
Toronto. Therefore it is very straightforward. When it comes to
dealing with a war between Israel and a terrorist organization, this country
and this government cannot and will never be neutral. (APPLAUSE)
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I said that this position is rooted in what
we have long stood for as a country. As a boy, I was like most fortunate
young men, to be most influenced by my father, and one of the great influences
on my father's life was World War II. He was too young to have fought in
the war, but he was old enough to have absorbed its lessons. The world
was too slow to fully grasp the threat of fascism, too willing in the early
years to make excuses for it, too blind to see what it meant for all of
us. Now, as you know, this summer we were mercilessly attacked by our
opposition for the position we took on the Middle East. I understand
why. I understand that with the news reports of the day in the sound of
battle, the images of destruction, the suffering of innocents, it is sometimes
difficult to see and to keep the focus on what is truly at stake. But the
fact is this: those who attacked Israel and those who sponsor such attacks
don't seek merely to gain some leverage, to alter some boundary or to right
some wrong. They seek what they and those like them have always sought:
the destruction of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish people.
Why? (APPLAUSE) Why, my friends? A thousand complicated
rationalizations, but only one simple reason: because the Jews are different,
because the Jews are not like them. And because Israel is different and
alone in a complicated and dangerous part of the world, it is too easy to
embrace the rationalizations and ignore this truth. And it is too easy to
ignore the greater implications of that truth, which became so evident in World
War II, that those who seek to destroy the Jews, who seek to destroy Israel
will for the same reason ultimately seek to destroy us all. And that, my
friends… (APPLAUSE) And that, my friends, is why Canada's new government has
reacted with speed and spoken with clarity on the recent events in the Middle
East, why we were the first nation in the international community to cut off
funding to the Hamas government, why… (APPLAUSE) why we defended Israel's right
to vigorous and effective self-defence against Hezbollah, and why… (APPLAUSE)
and why we opposed a one-sided resolution at the Francophonie because it wasn't
right, it wasn’t fair and it wasn't the Canadian way. (APPLAUSE)
Now friends, in the same spirit of truth and with the same openness that
the friendship allows, I need to tell you that we must also seek a fair and
just future for the Palestinian people. Issues of… (APPLAUSE) Issues of
human dignity, of giving people their right to build their society, as long as
they respect the rights and dignity of others, are values we also share.
Our government believes in a two-state solution, in a secure, democratic and
prosperous Israel living beside a viable, democratic and peaceful Palestinian
state. (APPLAUSE)
Nous croyons qu'il est nécessaire d'avoir une paix juste, durable et
compréhensive au Moyen-Orient.
Egypt and Jordan took courageous steps many years ago to make peace with
Israel. They know the benefits of peace. We think the time is long
overdue for others in the region to join them, and it is in the end the only
way forward for everybody, and I… (APPLAUSE) And friends, I have to believe
that that's what most ordinary Palestinian people want, like most Israelis,
like most everyone else in the region. The mother wants peace and
security for her new child. The father hopes for a happy future for his
family and his community. The young adult seeks freedom, opportunity and
the chance to get ahead. Other than the terrorist, the extremist, or the
fanatic, who wakes up each day and wishes that the public life in their
community or their country will be an endless cycle of hate, violence,
oppression and corruption? No one. But in the end, that is all that
they will ever achieve, and why we must be so ever vigilant against them.
Now, I don't profess to be an expert on Israeli politics, but it seems to be
that the current government of Israel didn’t want to be where it found itself
this summer. It wasn’t elected to wage war but to pursue peace. And
this is the great tragedy. Because Prime Minister Olmert and Prime
Minister Sharon before him sought a mandate to break the mould and find a new
way forward, not to have the same battle yet again over the same ground.
They both said that Israel is willing to make painful compromises for
peace. This is the sort of leadership and vision and commitment that we
need and that we have come to respect from the great state of Israel.
(APPLAUSE) In my conversations with the Prime Minister, I've come away
convinced that he still aspires to find a genuine peace for his people and with
his neighbours. That, I've told him, is what Canada really wants.
And Israel, as a fellow democracy that prefers peace as all true democracies
do, can count on Canada's support, steadfast support, encouragement and
friendship along the way. (APPLAUSE)
Now, ladies and gentlemen, notwithstanding the invitation of the former
Liberal Premier of Ontario to speak endlessly tonight, I have promised that I
would not speak long. So let me just say that in our short time in
office, we have been guided by our clear values and interests in addressing the
Middle East and other foreign policy matters. I did so, for example, at
the G8 and my speech at the United Nations and recently again at the
Francophonie. Some have claimed that this is charting a radical new
course in foreign affairs. That is simply not accurate. Rather than
charting a new course, we are restoring Canada to its traditional and true
role, principled leadership in world affairs. (APPLAUSE) A Canada that
knows where it stands, speaks up for what is right and invests in the tools of
diplomacy, foreign aid, intelligence and military capability. Friends,
this is a role we have played at countless times in our history, a role we as
Canadians should be proud of, a role we will continue to pursue.
Je vous remercie et vous souhaite une agréable fin de soirée.
Thank you, shalom, and God bless Canada. (APPLAUSE)
***