What do Liberals, including Doug Ford, really think about Iran?

One answer is about the Iranian people — especially the Persians who fled the ayatollahs and built new lives in Canada. Toronto and Vancouver are full of them. Many came here after the Islamic Revolution turned a modernizing U.S. ally into a brutal theocracy. Most are secular. Most despise the regime. Most dream of seeing their country free again.

That Iran is worth sympathizing with.

The other answer is about the regime.

The Islamic Republic is not just another dictatorship. It is a fascist theocracy built on anti-Americanism, anti-Israel hatred, terrorism and religious fanaticism. It arms proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. It targets civilians on purpose. It wants nuclear weapons. And unlike secular tyrannies, it is not constrained by ordinary ideas of deterrence or mutually assured destruction.

That regime is now on everyone’s mind as Israel and the United States strike Iranian military assets, missiles and nuclear facilities. But Iran’s response is never limited to the battlefield. It lashes out asymmetrically — through terrorism, proxies, intimidation and soft targets.

That includes the West.

Jewish institutions in Europe and North America have been attacked. Synagogues in Canada have been shot at. A U.S. consulate was targeted. And yet even now, Canada’s political class cannot bring itself to speak clearly about what Iran is — or what it is doing here.

Take Mark Carney.

It has now come out that a Canadian military installation was attacked by Iran two weeks ago. Thankfully, no Canadians were hurt. But Carney kept it quiet. And when finally asked about it, his answer was not outrage, not retaliation, not even a serious condemnation. His answer was that Canada would not take part in “offensive actions.”

Offensive actions?

Canada was attacked.

Retaliating against an attack is not “offensive.” Keeping it secret and then scolding reporters for asking about it is not leadership. It is weakness.

And Carney is not alone.

Gregor Robertson, now a federal Liberal, managed to invoke the war with Iran not to condemn terrorism, not to denounce the regime, but to explain away Canada’s housing crisis. Apparently Iran is now to blame for home prices too.

It was absurd. It made no sense. But it revealed something important: to these people, Iran is not chiefly a terror state. It is a political talking point, a prop to excuse their domestic failures.

Evan Solomon was no better. More vague talking points. More mush. More attempts to fold Iran into a generic Liberal message about affordability and “plans.” Not a word of seriousness about the regime itself, or the fact that Iran has agents operating in Canada.

Then there is Doug Ford.

Back in 2018, Ford said he would not tolerate Al-Quds Day in Ontario — the annual hate march created by the ayatollahs to glorify the destruction of Israel and spread anti-Jewish hatred in the West.

And yet for eight years, he tolerated it.

Only now, on the eve of this year’s march, did Ford suddenly announce he was seeking an injunction to stop it. Not months ago. Not weeks ago. Not even a few days ago.

The day before.

It was completely unserious.

Any court application launched at the last minute was almost certain to fail on timing alone. Ford knew about these annual marches for years. He did nothing. And then, with cameras rolling and the event already imminent, he decided to perform toughness.

The police are unserious. The Ontario government is unserious. The federal government is unserious. And in a country this full of Iranian regime sympathizers and agents, that is becoming dangerous.

Canada now has leaders who cannot even say plainly that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, that it has attacked Canadians, and that its supporters openly organize in this country.

That is what they really think about Iran.

They think it can be managed. Delayed. Spun. Used. Soft-pedalled. Folded into some other message.

They do not treat it as the threat it is.

And that may be the most dangerous thing of all.

GUEST: Conservative MP Garnett Genuis joins the show to discuss the 84,000 jobs lost in Canada in February and what that says about the country’s failing economy.