Canada slaps Syria with new sanctions - Montreal Gazette

OTTAWA — Canada is slapping Syria's ruling regime with fresh sanctions targeting its oil industry, bringing it in line with similar U.S. and European Union positions adopted weeks ago.

"Certainly by no means can Canada do it alone but we can play our part in the international community," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters on Tuesday as he announced the embargo.

The sanctions ban the purchase, transportation or importing of petroleum products from Syria as well as new investments in the industry there. It also imposes travel bans and asset freezes on 56 Syrian officials and 21 companies and organizations.

The move came as the United Nations Security Council was set to debate a resolution condemning the Asad government's violent crackdown on pro-democracy supporters in Syria that have left an estimated 2,700 people dead.

Baird said the sanctions were "one way that we can show, on the day the United Nations is debating this, that Canada is prepared to do our part and stand up against the really repressive actions of the Assad regime in Syria."

The U.S. announced a similar oil embargo in mid-August, with the EU following suit at the beginning of September.

According to the Foreign Affairs Department, Canada was until recently the third-largest investor in Syria, thanks largely to a $1.2-billion Suncor project that was developing and producing natural gas from Syrian fields.

At the UN, Russia and China were poised to veto a European resolution threatening "targeted measures" if President Bashar al-Asad does not end his crackdown in 30 days.

Just ahead of the meeting the United States, which had made no previous public comment on the draft, gave strong support to the European campaign.

"We are hopeful that we will have a strong solid vote on the resolution that is on the table tonight," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in Washington.

The council has only passed two statements on the Syria crisis since the protests erupted in mid-March.

With files from Agence-France Presse

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