Canada Announces Syria Sanctions

John Baird gets his feet wet in the foreign affairs portfolio by responding to Syria's brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Waylaid by an election, and then victory celebrations, and then appointing John Baird as the new foreign affairs minister, and then observing a long weekend (priorities, people!), the Conservative government has finally announce sanctions against Syria, more than two months since security forces in that country first clashed with protesters. Baird's first move in the portfolio was to outlaw exports to Syria that would be used by the military and security forces, freeze any assets held in Canada by President Bashar al-Assad and his regime, and ban them from entering Canada. Recent estimates put the death toll in Syria at more than 1,100 with no signs of abatement.