On Monday, Canada's House of Commons passed a motion condemning the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction (BDS) Israel. The opposition Conservatives introduced the motion, but almost all of the Liberal government voted in favour of it, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The motion rejects BDS, says that it “promotes the demonisation and delegitimisation of the State of Israel,” and “calls upon the government to condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organisations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad”.
This comes days after a spokesperson for Stephane Dion, Canada's foreign affairs minister, said it will abide by a 2015 memorandum of understanding that the previous government signed with Israel. The memorandum states that “Canada and Israel will work together to oppose efforts to single out or isolate Israel by developing a coordinated public diplomacy initiative to oppose boycotts of Israel, to oppose those who call into question the Jewish state's right to exist and to work to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement”