Press Release from the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)

Toronto – Canada,
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August 24/ ‎‏2006‏
For Immediate Release

The Liberal Party ought to deal with MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj in the same way it dealt with Ex MP Carolyn Parrish

The LCCC commends the Liberal Party caucus which apparently has convinced beleaguered Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj to immediately resign his position as deputy foreign affairs critic in the aftermath of his questionable and condemned comments uttered in Lebanon while on a fact-finding Middle East mission with two other opposition MPs. He openly suggested that Canada should negotiate with Hezbollah.

The LCCC does not actually consider that this very sensitive case, which has created a great deal of public uproar, should simply end with Mr. Wrzesnewskyj's resignation. In this context, we call on the Liberal Party leadership to seriously consider applying the same problem solving process that was executed with ex MP Carolyn Parrish.

The LCCC reiterates its denunciation of Mr.Wrzesnewskyj's outrageous comments and affirms its strong belief that Hezbollah and all other organizations and groups that are on the Canadian terror list should not be negotiated with unless they completely fulfill all the legal provisions stipulated in the Terrorist Act and prove with no shred of doubt that they have given up and practically abandoned all the tactics, conduct, ideology, attitudes and behavior that initially were behind their classification as terror groups.

For the LCCC
Elias Bejjani/Chairman
Charbel Barakat/Political Adviser

Background
Toronto Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj has resigned yesterday as deputy foreign affairs critic following the uproar over his comments suggesting Canada should negotiate with Hezbollah. Wrzesnewskyj found himself distanced from his own Liberal party when he made the statement during a fact-finding mission to Lebanon last week. Wrzesnewskyj tendered his resignation on yesterday and was accepted. MP Wrzesnewskyj had suggested the Middle East peace process would benefit from Canada being more open to talking to Hezbollah, The comments quickly became the central topic of the three-day Liberal caucus retreat in Vancouver, which was supposed to be a strategy session for the upcoming session of Parliament. All 10 leadership candidates condemned the remarks, including Wrzesnewskyj's preferred candidate Gerard Kennedy.