It appears that militant Islam has gained a foothold in Canada’s Parliament, with the election of Liberal candidate Omar Alghabra in the riding of Mississauga-Erindale, Ont. According to a report in the Western Standard, Alghabra had previously celebrated his nomination for the riding as a victory for Islamic power.

“This is a victory for Islam. Islam won … Islamic power is extending into Canadian politics,” witnesses allege Alghabra shouted. Other witnesses, however ,report that it was Alghabra’s campaign adviser, a Markham city councillor, who made the statement. However, Alghabra never repudiated the comments.

Concern over the incident prompted Victor Fouad, a Liberal activist in the riding, to contact Prime Minister Paul Martin with an account, but he did not receive a reply.

As well, the Western Standard reports that the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, a non-partisan advocacy group in Toronto, was accused by the Liberal Party of participating in “an ethnic smear” for expressing alarm over the outburst.

Alghabra, a former president of the Canadian Arab Federation, in 2003 openly supported a conference at the University of Toronto calling for the destruction of Israel. He has called for the repeal of all of Canada’s anti-terrorist laws and has complained in the past that the CanWest newspaper chain has engaged in “biased reporting against Muslims” for referring to Hamas suicide bombers as “terrorists.” Alghabra has campaigned to bring the Al Jazeera news channel - a station that is openly anti-Semitic and anti-American -
to Canada.

A version of this article originally appeared Jan. 23 at LifeSiteNews.com.