The Trudeau government is apparently attempting some legislative slight of hand with today’s second reading of Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Iqra Khalid’s “Islamophobia” motion, M-103.

The motion wasn’t supposed to be heard again in the Canadian House of Commons until April but has emerged this week — one day before the annual federal budget that will predictably monopolize the national media’s attention for the duration of the week.

Before a final vote, a motion is read to, and debated by, Parliament three times.

The motion, though not a bill, will be sent to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for further study and additional legislative action that, if approved, would include criminal provisions being included in the criminal code proscribing and punishing “Islamophobia” — a term that is not even defined in the motion. The committee would be tasked to “undertake a study on how the government could develop a whole-of-government approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia…”

A new poll from Forum Research indicates overwhelming opposition to the motion, with only 14 percent of Canadians saying they agree with the motion in its current form.  Of the 1,340 Canadians asked, 40 percent think the motion should remove the phrase “Islamophobia” and should not single out Muslims as victims of alleged persecution, 31 percent think all religions should be cited in the motion and 15 percent don’t have an opinion.

A CROP poll released on the same day showed overwhelming support for vetting new immigrants for “Canadian values,” with 75 percent of respondents saying it was important to ensure that they agreed with basic equality issues.  That poll also showed a growing suspicion of Muslims, with 25 percent of Canadians willing to support a total ban on Muslim immigration.

Motion M-103 will likely pass second reading late Tuesday afternoon as it has the support of the Trudeau government and the left-wing New Democratic Party. The Conservatives are opposing the motion. At first reading, they introduced their own motion, sponsored by Saskatchewan MP David Anderson, to “condemn all forms of systemic racism, religious intolerance, and discrimination of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, and other religious communities.”

That motion was defeated by the Liberal majority.

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