Canada expected to walk out again as Iran’s Ahmadinejad takes to podium at UN

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Diplomats from Canada are expected to be among those who walk out on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the Iranian president takes the podium at the UN General Assembly.

The Canadian delegation walked out on the controversial leader’s speech last year.

This year, Canada’s controversial decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran could merit a mention in Ahmadinejad’s final speech to the world body as president.

In the past, he has used the UN spotlight to attack Israel, cast doubt on the Holocaust and question American accounts of the 9-11 attacks.

Ahmadinejad is speaking despite the concerted efforts of some, including Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, to convince UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to pull the plug.

“Allowing President Ahmadinejad to address the UN General Assembly is a cruel parody of law and justice that will put us on the wrong side of history,” Cotler wrote in a recent letter to the secretary general and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The letter cited Ahmadinejad for human rights violations, pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of the UN and incitement to genocide.

Cotler said the UN should be indicting Ahmadinejad, not inviting him to the podium.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided not to speak to the opening of the assembly’s fall session. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is to speak at the UN next week.