Canada to Lift Some Sanctions on Iran

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By John Paul Tasker, CBC News Feb 02, 2016

Foreign affairs minister said sanctions will be lifted in an 'effective' fashion

Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion says Canada will begin to lift some sanctions on Iran now that a deal has been reached to curb that country's contentious nuclear program.

"It's true that the United Nations has asked countries to lift sanctions that were put in place to prevent Iran from using nuclear weapons for military purposes," Dion said in French during question period.

"Canada will lift its sanctions but will maintain a level of mistrust for a regime that must not have nuclear weapons, a regime that is a danger to human rights and is not a friend to our allies, including Israel," Dion said. "We will do this with our eyes wide open." 

Dion repeated his pledge in the foyer but did not give a specific timeline.

"We'll do it in accordance with our allies. They are keeping sanctions to be sure that Iran will not have the capacity to be involved in nuclear military measures, so we'll certainly be very responsible in our way," Dion said.

The remarks came after Conservative MP Peter Kent asked Dion what the government would do about Iran, a country he called a "bad actor" and one that supports Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

The Conservative's foreign affairs critic, Tony Clement, condemned the policy shift, adding that the government is "going 180 degrees in the wrong direction."

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