Ottawa, ON – Michael Chong, Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, released the following statement:

“Conservatives support efforts to allow Canadian citizens and other foreign nationals to be able to safely exit Gaza and return to their country of citizenship. Those efforts, by necessity, require temporary pauses in military activity to ensure the safety of those involved.

“We have also supported efforts to bring food, water, medicine and other humanitarian aid to the innocent civilians of Gaza, via so-called ‘humanitarian corridors.’

“We support temporary pauses for these humanitarian reasons, while continuing to recognize that Israel has a right to defend itself and take action to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas.

“These temporary pauses must be respected by all.”