Avi Lewis ruins Canada PM Mark Carney over ‘Iran war was worth it’ gaffe

Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Avi Lewis has just rinsed ex-banker PM Mark Carney over a bizarre claim that the US war on Iran was “worth it”. Lewis said Carney’s comments were ‘disturbing’ and an ‘insult’ to Iranians killed by the “imperial’ war of aggression.

He also said the war had harmed the Canadian workers hit with higher costs for basic necessities.

Lewis — think Jeremy Corbyn plus Zack Polanski plus a bit of Naomi Klein (he is the left-wing author’s husband) — is the socialist, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist Jewish leader of Canada’s most left-wing electoral party.

Lewis was responding to Carney’s comments on 16 June about the US-Iran peace deal.  Starmer-style technocrat Carney told reporters:

I’ve always believed that (Iran is) the biggest exporter of terror. It was hell-bent, sorry if I can say that, on getting a nuclear weapon, and the force multiplier on that was terrible.

Carney also said (Canary’s bold):

Lots needs to happen. We all have to support (the deal). But moving to this position, where that’s been taken off the table. Yes, that’s worth it.

Carney: the centrist banker who arms Israel

British readers will remember Carney as the austerity-era chief of the Bank of England. He has talked big game on Trumpism and Israel. In reality, his government has aligned with the Trump administration on Iran and supplied arms to the genocidal settler-state.

Lewis, who was born into Canada’s labour movement aristocracy, took issue with several aspects of the PM’s comments.

Lewis said:

I found the prime minister’s comments about the Iran war being worth it to be really disturbing, shocking as a Canadian. I want to know who the prime minister thinks it was worth it for.

For thousands of civilians who were killed, for the 168 school girls who were killed on the very first night of an illegal, reprehensible, immoral war started by Israel and the United States for no reason whatsoever.

The NDP leader said that the war had also hit working class Canadians. He asked:

Was it worth it to millions of working-class Canadians who have been suffering more economic pain in the midst of a cost of living crisis, paying more for gas and fuel and food and the necessities of life? Who was it worth it for? What was actually achieved in this war?

And he argued Iran’s supposed nuclear ambitions hadn’t changed back when the first bombs dropped in late February 2026:

Iran is no closer or further from getting nuclear weapons today than when the first bombs dropped. And the Obama Iran nuclear deal, which was achieved without a single life being shed, without a single bomb being dropped, was much more effective at securing that policy aim.

Trump himself dismantled that nuclear deal in his first term.

An insult to Iranians killed in the war

Avi Lewis seemed to hold Carney’s claim that the war was ‘worth it’ in particular contempt. He called it:

an insult and an indignity to those people who died unnecessarily and to all Canadians who suffered unnecessarily from these acts of impunity and aggression from the imperial power of the United States.

He said the US had been “dragged in by Israel”:

which is out of control and which of course has not signed on to this deal. A pivotal point of which is
to stop bombing civilians and invading Lebanon. And Israel has already made it clear that it has no intention of abiding by that provision of the deal.

The claim Israel pulled a naively bumbling Trump into the war is also backed up by reporting from March 2026. Lewis added:

So I think we see this in the context of the prime minister once again trying to placate the Trump administration in advance of negotiations rather than actually procuring gains for Canadians.

Lewis’s party is relatively small with only five MPs. It has limited influence — though that may change if Lewis keeps hitting the right notes. But he is correct in his assessment of both Carney and the war. And we can only hope that by the time the next election comes around in Canada, a hard-edged pro-working-class and anti-imperialist position can cut through.

Featured image via Twitter

By Joe Glenton