Mississauga-Erindale, Islamists, and a CCD Retraction
December 31, 2005, 2:16 pm |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
On December 19, the Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) issued a press release warning of Islamist penetration into Canadian politics, but now wishes to clarify its stance. The CCD’s clarification is shown below, but note the important commentary by Daniel Pipes, also shown below — both posted with permission from the original authors.
From the CCD:
Toronto, Canada - Thursday, December 22, 2005 - On December 19, 2005, The Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) issued a press release that contained inaccuracies. We would like to correct those inaccuracies and to apologize for any misunderstanding that resulted.
On December 20, the Liberal Party of Canada issued a press release suggesting, among other allegations, that CCD had launched an “ethnic smear campaign” by commenting on the purported words of Mr. Alghabra on December 1, 2005.
CCD has no vested interest in any allegations that are not true and defensible, and would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
The December 19 press release from CCD was based on reports from several independent individuals who were present at the Liberal nomination of Omar Alghabra. While those reports were consistent, the resultant release was wrong on two key points and the inferences it drew from them. Firstly, the date of the nomination meeting was December 1, not December 2 as reported. Secondly, witnesses reported that the statements attributed to Omar Alghabra were actually spoken by Khalid Usman, the individual introduced by Mr. Alghabra as his major supporter following Mr. Alghabra’s nomination victory. Witnesses reported that Mr. Alghabra’s celebratory actions on the podium appeared supportive of Mr. Usman’s declarations, and that Mr. Alghabra did not distance himself from the comments nor offer any correction.
On December 22, Carolyn Parrish, the former MP for Mississauga-Erindale, was quoted in the Mississauga News as saying that “He [Khalid Usman] made comments about Muslims eventually being [represented] in every riding in Mississauga … He made it sound like [Muslims] were taking over. It was extremely inappropriate.” Elias Hazineh, president of the Mississauga-Erindale Federal Liberal Riding Association, was also quoted as hearing the Markham councillor say, “this is a victory for Muslims.”
Failing to distance oneself from inappropriate statements from a supporter that mix religion and politics is not the same as uttering those statements, and CCD regrets the mistake it made. CCD is forwarding this correction to all those on its original distribution list.
CCD would like to take this opportunity to respond to several damaging assertions in the Liberal Party of Canada press release of December 20 (below) distributed to media and others over the name of “Stephen Heckbert, Ontario Liberal campaign headquarters”.
The Liberal press release claims that the errors made by CCD were part of an “ethnic smear campaign”. This assertion is clearly false and extremely damaging, as a criticism of mixing of religion and politics stands on its own, regardless of the ethnicity of the individuals involved. Furthermore, those who alerted CCD to such statements were all of Middle Eastern origin and could hardly be accused of perpetrating an “ethnic smear”. It was only the Liberal press release that generalized from the alleged actions of individuals to an entire ethnic group.
The Liberal press release is entirely justified in criticizing the admitted mistakes of CCD. However, the release emphasizes “strong Conservative ties” and even singled out individuals for their Conservative involvement from among CCD’s 28-person board of directors. CCD’s board consists of people from across the political spectrum. CCD’s founder has been an active lifelong Liberal and campaign worker in most elections. The Liberal press release could just have reasonably concluded that CCD is a group with “strong Taiwanese ties” or “strong Hindu ties”. To attempt to make any such connection is an unwarranted and damaging generalization.
The Liberal press release chose to disclose the name, private mobile telephone number and email address of Georganne Burke, describing her as “the Conservative Party’s regional organizer in Toronto”. Ms Burke had never herself publicly disclosed her mobile number, although Stephen Heckbert claimed that a third party had done so. Such an irrelevant disclosure clearly violated the privacy of Ms Burke as well as possibly endangering her safety. To falsely associate a woman with an “ethnic smear campaign” directed against the Muslim community and to send such a potentially libellous statement to the media is extremely threatening to the individual involved.
Prior to the Liberal release being distributed, Ms Burke received a telephone call asking if she was the regional organizer for the Conservative party of Canada. The caller then hung up without ever identifying himself. When Ms Burke called the number captured by the Caller ID, it turned out that the anonymous call has come from the Ontario Headquarters of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Within hours of the Liberal disclosure of Ms Burke’s private mobile number, she received a threatening phone call from an individual who had been made aware of her private number through the Liberal press release.
The Liberal press release chose to identify members of CCD who happened to be associated with the Conservative Party of Canada, and who had no involvement in the press release containing the admitted errors. The author of the press release is not even mentioned, while those with Conservative connections are named. Had such a generalization been made on the basis of ethnicity, as opposed to party affiliation, the Liberal press release would itself have been an “ethnic smear campaign”.
It is essential to emphasize that, despite the untrue inferences in the Liberal press release, no one involved with the Conservative Party of Canada had any role in the December 19 press release, and none was aware of its existence until it was distributed by CCD.
CCD acknowledges and regrets the errors in its December 19 press release and again offers its sincere apologies to Mr. Omar Alghabra. We would ask that the Liberal Party do the same with respect to potentially libellous statements in its December 20 press release.
We also would like to extend our best wishes to Mr. Alghabra and to all candidates in the present election, and to acknowledge the sacrifice that they are making in their chosen career, especially during the holiday season.
From Daniel Pipes:
Is Canada’s Liberal Party Running an Islamist Candidate?
Western governments generally display little anxiety about Islamists in power (e.g., Turkey) and are happy to help enfranchise their deadliest enemies (e.g., in Egypt). And now the message comes from Canada that they even accept Islamists being elected to their own parliaments.
On December 1, the ruling Liberal Party gave Omar Alghabra, 36, an overt Islamist, 488 of 773 votes cast, making him its candidate in the Mississauga-Erindale riding. Alghabra’s speech on winning the nomination, reports the invaluable Canadian Coalition for Democracies, included a statement that “This is a victory for Islam! Islam won! Islam Won! … Islamic power is extending into Canadian politics.” Then, following Alghabra’s victory speech, Markham Councillor Khalid Osman told a cheering and applauding audience, “We have the east, we have the west, and now we have Mississauga!” One member of the audience, Victor Fouad, wrote in protest to Prime Minister Paul Martin, leader of the Liberal Party, telling him about the above, but received no reply. Fouad concluded that between Martin’s silence and Alghabra remaining the Liberals’ candidate, “I have to assume that Alghabra has the endorsement of the Prime Minister.”
Omar Alghabra, Liberal Party candidate in the Mississauga-Erindale riding |
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Comment: Islamists being voted into office in the West is a another issue to worry about. (December 19, 2005)
Dec. 20, 2005 update: What exactly did Alghabra say? One person at the event, Sheref Elsabawy, was “shocked” to hear Alghabra’s remarks about Islam, reports the Mississauga News. But Alghabra himself says the CCD’s allegations are “not true,” false, and inaccurate. “I didn’t say a thing about Muslims or Islam in my acceptance speech. � The whole thing is untrue.” And former Mississauga-Erindale MP Carolyn Parrish, who was also at the meeting, does not recall hearing Alghabra make religious or incendiary comments. “I honestly can’t say I heard Omar say that.” Also, Alghabra’s website carries the text of a Liberal Party press release, “Liberal Candidate Target of Ethnic Smear Campaign,” that calls on CCD “to apologize for issuing a blatantly false, politically-motivated news release” and quotes Alghabra: “I categorically deny making this statement, and anyone who says otherwise is lying. I challenge anyone to produce proof that I linked politics and religion.” The release also states that a videotape of Alghabra’s acceptance speech bears out that he did not say those words about Islam.
Dec. 21, 2005 update: The dispute continues. CCD head Al Gordon made a correction to the Dec. 19 press release:
Witnesses to the event are consistent in saying that Omar Alghabra did not make the attributed comments as part of “his victory speech after winning the nomination” as reported in the press release. Mr. Alghabra is therefore correct as quoted in the Mississauga News: “I didn’t say a thing about Muslims or Islam in my acceptance speech“. By all reports, his acceptance speech was professional and uneventful. The attributed comments are reported by independent witnesses to have occured as part of the general celebratory exhuberance immediately following the acceptance speech. In addition, Mr. Alghabra made no attempt to distance himself from the statements made on the podium by Khalid Osman, which are reported to have occurred as presented in the press release
David Ouellette of Judeoscope.ca adds to this:
To Mr. Gordon’s understanding, based on several eyewitness accounts, after Mr. Alghabra gave a standard acceptance speech, Mr.Osman, seized the microphone and made a series of “statements about this being a victory for Islam and how Muslims have now taken Mississauga”. Only then, says the CCD’s President, without distancing himself from Mr.Osman’s statements, did Mr. Alghabra make the alleged statements after stepping down from the podium amidst his supporters. Mr. Gordon also indicated that those who claimed not to have heard the comments are likely telling the truth, as the noise level and general pandemonium were reportedly such that many left the area near the podium after the acceptance speeches were over.
Dec. 22, 2005 update: The Mississauga News seems to have resolved the issue of who said what and when: The comments that alarmed the CCD were accurate — but all of them were spoken by Khalid Osman, a Liberal party member and councillor from Markham, and not by Alghabra. Elias Hazineh, president of the Mississauga-Erindale Federal Liberal Riding Association, said he heard Osman say, “this is a victory for Muslims.” Parrish said she caught the pro-Islamic commentary at the meeting, but not from Alghabra: “I heard it, but not from Omar.” Osman “made comments about Muslims eventually being [represented] in every riding in Mississauga. He made it sound like [Muslims] were taking over. It was extremely inappropriate.”
Comment: I called Alghabra an “overt Islamist” based his quotes in the CCD report; that report having been amended, I take back my description of Alghabra. Osman, instead, appears to be the one to fit the description of an “overt Islamist.”
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