Defence Minister David McGuinty said Monday that Canada “is not going to be participating” within the war in Iran after Prime Minister Mark Carney last week didn’t rule out the potential of Canadian military involvement.
Speaking at an unrelated media event in Ottawa, McGuinty added that Canada has not yet decided to affix its NATO allies in offering assistance to Persian Gulf nations which have come under attack by Iran.
“Clearly the situation in Iran is incredibly serious,” McGuinty told reporters. “It’s one we’ve been watching for the reason that starting.
“It’s vital for Canadians to know that Canada was not consulted before the motion undertaken by Israel and the US. Canada was not asked to comment, Canada has not participated and Canada is not going to be participating.”
McGuinty’s comment echoed the Prime Minister’s Office summary of a late Sunday meeting of the federal government’s incident response group to debate the situation within the Middle East, which McGuinty said Monday he participated in.
“Canada was not consulted, didn’t participate, and has no plans to take part in the offensive actions against Iran which might be being undertaken by the U.S. and Israel,” the PMO readout stated.
In Australia on March 4, Carney said the notion of Canadian participation was a “fundamental hypothetical” but said he couldn’t “categorically rule out participation” — particularly if allies needed defending.
Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan told reporters at a defence and security conference in Ottawa last week that she and her NATO counterparts can be meeting to contemplate helping Gulf states defend themselves against bombing from Iran.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and all over the world, join for breaking news alerts delivered on to you after they occur.
She said the Canadian Armed Forces would present a advice to the federal government after the meeting, which took place Friday.
McGuinty said Monday that “quite a few NATO members have decided to supply some assistance to neighbouring countries within the immediate vicinity of Iran.”
“Canada has made no such decision,” he added. “It’s something that we’re monitoring rigorously.”
Numerous European nations including France and the UK have deployed additional military assets to the region, including air defences and warships.
McGuinty said Carignan and other NATO military leaders were monitoring the Iran war’s impact on the alliance’s military readiness and ammunition supplies, including how that will affect the flexibility to help within the war in Ukraine.
The House of Commons was set to carry a debate Monday evening on Canada’s approach to the war in Iran and its impact on Canadians abroad. Carney is not going to be participating.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre earlier Monday accused Carney of contradicting himself on Canada’s position, which Poilievre said nobody understands.
Carney last week walked back his initial statement of support for the Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, saying the position was taken “with regret” as a consequence of a possible violation of international law.
Asked if he supported the U.S. and Israeli strikes, Poilievre said Conservatives support replacing Iran’s “terrorist regime with a democratically elected and peaceful regime,” although there have been conflicting statements from the U.S. administration on whether regime change was the goal of the war.
“As for Canada’s role in it, we’re not aware of any specific requests that the prime minister has received,” Poilievre added.
“If he has, we’d encourage him to share that information with all Canadians so we are able to have a debate about what we must always do.”
Poilievre said Canada ought to be focused on what it might control at home, particularly on energy. He said Conservatives were demanding an emergency debate about how the conflict is affecting global energy supplies and the way Canada will help solve the problem.
McGuinty said the federal government, for now, stays focused on the security of Canadians within the Middle East and facilitating transport out of the region for many who wish to depart.
“The situation is serious,” he said. “It’s one which’s evolving, one which’s iterative, one which is difficult to predict. So we’re, as DND (Department of National Defence) and the Canadian Armed Forces, watching it rigorously, and in actual fact, we met with the Incident Response Group yesterday with the prime minister and 5 or 6 ministers to review the situation.”
Global Affairs Canada said Sunday that, out of the nearly 110,000 Canadians registered with the federal government who’re within the Middle East, 9,185 have made requests for assistance and 5,267 have asked for help to depart the region.
The federal government has been using multiple methods of transportation, including booking business flight seats and ground transportation, to get people out. Those in Iran have been forced to travel to neighbouring countries where they’ll receive consular assistance.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.