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“Since we suspended diplomatic relations with Iran in September of last year, we’ve been expanding our outreach with Iranians in Canada and Iranians around the world, and we’ve been asking them a number of questions, but one of the most important questions [is] ‘What can Canada do to counter the threat posed by the Iranian regime?'” said a government source, speaking on background.

The most common answer, he said, was that the Iranian regime’s greatest vulnerability is information.

“The Iranian people need weapons, but when they say ‘weapons,’ they don’t mean small arms or heavy weapons. They mean access to the free internet, the ability to have an unfettered conversation among themselves, the ability for people inside the country to hear the democratic voices based outside the country, the ability to connect and engage in a free and open debate about the future of their country,” the official said. “So this Global Dialogue is the government of Canada’s inaugural effort to facilitate, support and encourage that requirement.”

Mr. Baird, directly addressing the Iranian people, said they themselves are the Iranian government’s greatest fear, and so Canada’s goal is “robust elections which take power out of the hands of puppet masters and place it in your hands, the hands of the people.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the theocratic government, is “the greatest threat to international peace and security in the world today,” Mr. Baird said. “The regime is hollow. It does not have the depth, the intellect, the humanity, or the humility to bring about a better future for its people.”