Here’s a troubling piece about the nature of the Islamic political movement in Canada, which is taking credit for helping defeat conservative candidates: Muslim power in Canada.

A few days ahead of the federal elections, three Canadian Muslim leaders met at Concordia University in Montreal to discuss Islamic “committed voting.” The event, however, turned into an anti-Zionist, Jew-bashing fest.

The meeting’s tone could be felt at the hall’s entrance: flyers calling to boycott Mount-Royal Liberal deputy and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, a human rights lawyer who defended such political prisoners as Nelson Mandela and Natan Sharansky and a strong advocate of Israel’s right to defend its citizens from Palestinian terrorism.

Bearded men and hijab-clad women filled the room. A handful of representatives from the Canadian Marxist-Leninist Party also attended, nodding in sync to all the speakers’ statements. I was the only reporter present.

CIC President Mohammed Elmasry opened the meeting by saying: “The Conservatives’ strong performance in recent polls should alarm Muslims” since, in his view, Conservative leader Stephen Harper espouses an extreme-right agenda. Mohammad Sherif Kamel of the Canadian Muslim Forum sounded the same warning bell: “The Conservatives are so right-wing they put Bush to shame; its members are all racists and Zionists.”

In addition to defeating the Conservatives, the Muslim leaders want to shake Canadian Muslims out of their electoral apathy. While the last national voting rate hovered around 60%, it was below 50 % among Muslims. Elmasry warned Muslims that if they refrain from voting, “we will end up with anti-hijab laws, and just like in France, will need to ask the police for a permit to pray in our workplace.”

CIC President Elmasry explained that thanks to the report he commissioned, Muslims were projecting political power for the first time in Canada’s history: “All MPs and their opponents know we are watching them. But don’t believe that all deputies who scored well are happy about it. Many resent, for obvious reasons, being associated too closely with Muslims.”

These “obvious reasons” were made explicit by Kamel: “The Zionists and corporations run the show in Canada, the Zionist Global Television and the Issi Asper Foundation want to form our minds and the next government.” …

“I could not vote for a thief. Zionism is theft. A proud Zionist candidate commits a fatal mistake. I’ll name some people: Jacques Saada [Montreal liberal deputy and now minister] is a Zionist, he is therefore a thief!”

Kamel also denounced Prime Minister Paul Martin as a “Conservative in Liberal clothing whom the Zionists and the corporations elected as leader of the Liberal Party.”

Elmasry was upbeat about the emerging Muslim vote: “With an average age of 37 years, the Muslim population is young and growing twice as fast as the rest of the population. For the first time in Canada’s history, Muslims are projecting political power.”

The day after the elections, the CIC reported an improbable 88% vote participation among Muslims and congratulated itself on helping defeat the “Zionist” Conservatives.

Imam Elmenyawi was elated: “A Conservative victory would have been disastrous for Muslims. A minority government is a victory for us. We Muslims will wield greater power, especially with regards to foreign policy. There is no better shield from terrorism than Muslim participation in Canadian political life.”

In case you missed it, that last quoted sentence is a thinly veiled threat.