Minister Peter Kent Always Walks With Israel

May 30, 2010

Minister Peter Kent delivered the following speech at the 2010 Walk With Israel:
 
Thank you Howard for the kind introduction.
And thank you ladies and gentlemen for coming out today to Walk with Israel!
 
I am honoured to bring greetings on behalf of the Government of Canada and a man who always walks with Israel, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
 
Last week, the Economist published an article called “Canada and Israel - Unlikely Allies.” 
 
With all due respect to the esteemed publication, the title couldn’t be.... more wrong.
 
As vibrant democratic states in which the rule of law and human rights are revered, Canada and Israel are the likeliest -- the most natural -- of allies!
 
At home or abroad whether popular or not, our government has proudly stood with our brother in the democratic family of nations. 
 
When faced with those who seek to wipe both it and the Jewish people from the face of the Earth, Israel can always count on our unequivocal support.  
For as our Prime Minister has rightly noted, “those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada, because, as the last world war showed...hate-fuelled bigotry against some is ultimately a threat to us all and must be resisted wherever it may lurk.”
 
Despite the many challenges...however elusive it seems in the face of state-sponsored hate...we must maintain our belief that a fair and lasting peace is attainable... that Israel will, one day, live in peaceful co-existence with its neighbours - that a viable peace will become a reality for all the peoples of the Middle East.
 
I know this is a vision you share, ladies and gentlemen,
 
And I know it is a vision shared by our very special guest today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
 
This is the first time in more than 30 years – since Manachim Begin all the way back in 1978 – that an Israeli Prime Minister has addressed Toronto’s Jewish community.
 
And it is the first time in 16 years that an Israeli Prime Minister has visited Canada.
 
So it is a very great honour, Sir, to welcome you here today.
 
This month marks the 49th anniversary of the first state visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to Canada.
During that visit, the “Father of the Nation,” David Ben-Gurion, met with the father of Canada’s original Bill of Rights..Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
 
The respective legacies of these two great men endure to this day.
 
In Ben-Gurion’s case, the most democratic state in the Middle East.
 
In Diefenbaker’s, the document that made Canadians “freedom conscious.”
 
I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to the values and principles these two leaders embodied... than today’s event...  
 
 
So, I’d like to thank you all for coming out.
 
 
And I know we’re all looking forward to walking in support of our friend and ally, the democratic State of Israel.
 
 
Thank you....and Shalom...