Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong said today he will vote in favour of Motion 103, which condemns Islamophobia and instructs the heritage committee to study discrimination against Canadian Muslims, as well as other religious and racial groups.

“In light of the mass shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City last month, where six Muslims were killed and 19 injured while they prayed in their mosque, it is appropriate and important that Canadian parliamentarians study the issue of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic prejudice and discrimination,” he said in a statement this morning.

Chong said that some have suggested the motion singles out Canadian Muslims for special treatment. “This is not true,” he added.

“The House of Commons has long had a tradition of passing motions denouncing discrimination and hatred against particular groups, especially religious minorities,” he wrote, citing the House adopting similar motions regarding Jews (February 22, 2016), Yazidis (October 25, 2016) and Egyptian Coptic Christians (October 17, 2011) as examples.

Chong said others have criticized the motion by falsely claiming it will “set us on a path toward sharia law.

“I do not support sharia law and I would never vote in favour of anything that set us down that path.”

He also shot down the claim that the motion could restrict free speech — that, in denouncing Islamophobia, the motion also denounces criticism of radical Islamic terrorism and of Islam itself. “That is not what the motion says,” Chong said.

“In denouncing Islamophobia, the motion is simply denouncing discrimination and prejudice against Muslims and people of the Islamic faith. Nothing more or less. Motion 103 will not prevent anyone from criticizing Islam or radical Islamic terrorists.”

Over the weekend, leadership candidate Pierre Lemieux issued a fundraising email saying that this week Parliament is expected to debate M-103 again and he strongly encouraged all MPs “to stand for free speech and vote against it.”

Maxime Bernier wrote on Facebook that he’s also opposed to M-103 because he believes it’s a threat to free speech.