Canada’s Liberal government has given its full-throated support to American imperialism’s onslaught on Iran.

Within hours of the US attacking Iran’s civil nuclear facilities last Saturday evening with the most powerful non-nuclear bombs ever deployed, Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement on X welcoming the attack and America’s entry into the illegal war of aggression Israel launched against Iran on the night of June 12.

Carney termed the illegal, sneak-attack the fascist US President Donald Trump ordered on Iran a legitimate response to the country’s alleged push to build a nuclear weapon. No matter that western intelligence agencies, including those of the US, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have conceded there is no evidence Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear bomb.

In reality, Washington’s intervention into the war is an expansion of its relentless drive to secure unchallenged dominance over the Middle East, which has seen it wage and foment war across the region for over thirty years. This drive has accelerated since October 2023, with Washington giving political and massive military support to Israel as it has waged a genocidal assault on the Palestinians of Gaza, intensified its efforts to annex the West Bank, and attacked Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

The assault on Iran is part of US imperialism’s efforts to redivide the world in its interests by waging global war against its rivals, above all Russia and China. Canada’s support for this mad agenda underscores how determined Ottawa is to ensure it captures its share of the spoils.

“Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security,” asserted Carney in the opening line of his X statement on the US attack on Iran, “and Canada has been consistently clear that Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Canada’s prime minister then proclaimed the “US military action taken last night was designed to alleviate that threat,” and added his voice to the imperialist chorus demanding that Iran take no action in its self-defence, claiming that to do so would constitute escalation.

“Stability in the region is a priority,” Carney hypocritically affirmed. “The resolution of the Iranian crisis should lead to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East.”

The Prime Minister’s statement was backed up by Foreign Minister Anita Anand, who similarly began by emphasizing, “Canada has been consistent and clear that Iran must not possess nuclear weapons as they are a threat to international security.”

The Canadian prime minister’s statement went even further than those of his European counterparts, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Marz, who both also endorsed the US strike on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan Iranian nuclear sites. 

Trump’s Monday night announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was immediately praised by Carney, who called for a return to “negotiations” and a “diplomatic solution.” This under conditions where Israel and the US have worked together to repeatedly use the White House’s promise of negotiations as a ruse to cover their aggression. Moreover, it is Trump who in 2018 blew-up the UN backed Iran nuclear accord, then imposed a campaign of punishing globally-applied sanctions, continued under Biden, aimed at crashing Iran’s economy and provoking “regime change.” 

Carney’s stance is in keeping with that Ottawa has taken ever since the Israel Defense Force launched its illegal attack on Iran. An attack that on the very the first day targeted Iranian scientists and the head of the team negotiating with the Americans, as well as military leaders. When questioned about the war last week, the Prime Minister declared that Israel has the “right to defend itself.” 

The US attack on Iran was preceded by a meeting of the G7 leaders in Canada, where Carney welcomed with open arms the aspiring dictator Trump, who has sent troops to Los Angeles to suppress opposition to his attack on immigrants and made repeated threats to use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state. With Carney’s assistance, Trump was able to obtain agreement on a joint G7 statement denouncing Iran before rushing back to Washington, D.C., to oversee the plans for Saturday’s attack.

Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has taken an even more hawkish position than the Prime Minister, similarly endorsing the war on Iran while explicitly calling for regime change and a crackdown democratic rights at home. 

“Allowing the genocidal regime in Iran to get a nuclear weapon would have been reckless. American and Israeli actions to stop it from getting one are 100% justified,” Poilievre said in a statement Sunday. “Hopefully the brave Iranian people will rise up and put an end to this appalling regime so the people can live in freedom and the world can live in peace. Our government must also protect Canadians from violence spilling into our communities at home and stop intimidation and foreign interference by the Iranian regime targeting Canada’s Jewish and Persian communities.”

Poilievre has long agitated for a pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear program, declaring last year that an Israeli strike would be “a gift by the Jewish state to humanity.” 

The social democratic NDP, under conditions where it has been reduced to a rump in parliament, has taken a more critical stance. Foreign Affairs and Defence spokesperson Heather McPherson noted that the attack was illegal under both US and international law. “Canada must defend international law, must condemn this illegal escalation of violence, must work towards nuclear disarmament, and must refuse any calls to join in this senseless and destructive path,” McPherson stated. 

This is an entirely cynical position, as the NDP propped up the Trudeau Liberal government as it explicitly supported Israel waging war across the Middle East and a genocide in Gaza. The party has also been a staunch supporter of the US/NATO war against Russia in Ukraine and has pushed to see it continue in the face of the Trump administration’s efforts to negotiate with Russia. And if a critical vote comes up in parliament the trade union-sponsored NDP can be counted on to keep the current minority Liberal government in power. 

Having won April’s federal election just shy of a majority in parliament, the ex-central banker Carney has set out an agenda which is aimed at dramatically expanding military spending in preparations for direct conflict against Canadian imperialism’s adversaries, in particular Russia and China. On June 9, he announced a $9.3 billion annual increase in military spending, effective immediately, or almost $50 billion by the 2029-2030 fiscal year.

The tens of billions in additional military will be paid for by the further slashing of social programs and attacks on the living standards of the working class as the Liberal government simultaneously promises a “new era” of austerity. 

With the dual aim of boosting Canada’s war industries and reducing its reliance on the United States for military hardware, the Prime Minister traveled to Brussels this week for a Canada-EU summit. It finalized a security and defence agreement that opens the door for Canadian companies to participate in the $1.25-trillion ReArm Europe program and aims to foster closer coordination between the Canadian military and the European Defence Agency.  

A key motivator of the burgeoning ties between Canada and the European imperialist powers is their ruling elites’ common determination to prosecute the NATO-instigated war with Russia and fears that Trump could strike a deal with Moscow over their heads and at their expense.

Following the Canada-EU Summit, Carney, Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty joined a meeting of NATO alliance leaders in The Hague, where the annual target for military spending by each country is expected to be raised to 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Carney has promised that Canada will raise its military spending to 2 percent of GDP by this year, a prospect which already promises a major boost in spending. For Canada to hit the 5 percent target, Ottawa would have to spend $150 billion on defence and military-related infrastructure every year.

Even as Carney threatens more tariffs on the US and drapes himself in the Maple Leaf and “Elbow’s Up” Canadian nationalism, he is involved in secret discussions with Trump on a new Canada-US “economic and security framework.” As part of these negotiations, Ottawa has proposed to join Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile defence shield, which the US President has said would cost Canada $61 billion, one third of the total projected cost. 

Notwithstanding the unprecedented tensions between Ottawa and Washington, for the Canadian bourgeoisie, the goal remains to secure a position as the junior partner of American imperialism. Workers in Canada must oppose Carney’s agenda of war and austerity and reject all efforts to divide them from their fellow workers in the US and internationally. The urgent task is to build a revolutionary leadership that unites workers' struggles into an independent movement against war, authoritarianism, and the capitalist system—and for workers’ power and international socialism.