Federal Liberal government has proposed a debate on Iran war, House leader says

OTTAWA – Liberal House leader Steven MacKinnon says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has proposed to debate the turmoil in the Middle East on Monday evening, following a weekend meeting of ministers that discussed the issue.

Steven MacKinnon, who is also transport minister, said in a Sunday post on X the government has proposed to opposition parties that a debate on the hostilities in Iran and the impact for Canadians abroad be held in the House of Commons.

Media representatives for the NDP and Conservative parties did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday, and Carney’s office didn’t respond when asked if the prime minister would attend the debate.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout late Sunday that Carney convened the Incident Response Group with ministers and senior officials earlier in the day to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

It said the meeting “focused on efforts to protect Canadians in the region and work with partners to de-escalate the conflict.”

“Canada was not consulted, did not participate, and has no plans to participate in the offensive actions against Iran that are being undertaken by the U.S. and Israel,” the PMO readout stated.

“The initial conflict has spread widely as a result of attacks by Iran and its proxies on other countries across the broader Middle East.”

The PMO also said in a separate readout that Carney and U. S. President Donald Trump spoke Sunday afternoon on issues including developments in the Middle East, the economy and trade. No other details of the conversation were provided, other than that the leaders “agreed to remain in close contact.”

Some of Carney’s caucus members publicly said last week that they felt uneasy when the prime minister expressed support for the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.

Last week, Interim NDP Leader Don Davies called the Liberal government’s position on the attack unprincipled, incoherent and contradictory in a social media post.

During a news conference in Australia days after the attack, Carney added the airstrikes likely violate international law and he expressed his support for the mission with “regret.”

The Middle East has been in turmoil since the attack and, on Sunday, Iranian state TV announced Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country’s late supreme leader who was killed in the February attack, has been named his successor.

Iran has retaliated against the strikes and has been launching missiles and drones at U.S. and Israeli targets across the Gulf.

The PMO said the Incident Response Group agreed that partner countries in the region must have their security and sovereignty protected.

It also said the group discussed additional work to make sure Canadians who want to get out of the region can do so safely and quickly. It further said the group discussed “changes to the threat landscape” in Canada, and “underlined the importance of continued vigilance to enhance domestic security.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2026.

— With files from Dylan Robertson