Carney Made Reforms a Factor in Recognizing Palestine: Here’s Where They Stand

A year after Canada recognized the State of Palestine, questions remain about the reforms Prime Minister Mark Carney said the Palestinian Authority had committed. In September 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada was officially recognizing the State of Palestine. He told reporters at the time that recognition was "predicated on the Palestinian Authority's commitment to much-needed reform." He said he received that commitment in a letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed it with him later in a phone call.

Canada's Privy Council refuses to publish the letter, citing respect for international diplomatic relations. Carney framed the reforms, and the Palestinian Authority's commitment to meeting them, as his government's reasons for proceeding with statehood recognition — but both supporters and critics of the move interpreted it as Ottawa imposing conditions on that recognition. Here's a look at the reforms Carney called for and where they stand today: Carney said Abbas promised that the Palestinian Authority, or PA, would "fundamentally reform its governance." He said Canada has made it clear that Hamas can play no role in the future state.

Feda Abdelhady, the Palestinian ambassador to Ottawa, said in an interview in August reforms are underway and are meant to boost democracy for Palestinians. But she said progress can only go so far while Palestinians still face constant violence. "We could do the most incredible job of implementing reforms from textbooks and curriculum and everything else — but the occupation remains, she said, pointing to Gazans' daily struggle to survive without reliable access to food, shelter and water.

Her delegation shared with The Canadian Press a report the Palestinian finance ministry released in July which argues the PA has achieved 30 of 33 promised legal and social-system reforms — such as strengthening the rule of law and investment laws — over an 18-month period. The report also said it will be impossible for the PA to fund social services or undertake more reforms due to Israeli economic policies such as withholding tax revenue collected on consumption and imports. Since the October 2023 attacks by Hamas, Israel has cancelled thousands of permits for Palestinian workers, blocked roads used to export goods, and capped financial transfers." Carney said the PA vowed "to hold general elections in 2026, in which Hamas can play no part.

Palestinians last voted in 2006, leaving Abbas' Fatah party in charge of parts of the West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza during a brief civil war in 2007. Last fall the PA said it could only hold elections a year after the war in Gaza ends completely — and only when ballots can be cast in the West Bank and East Jerusalem without Israel detaining political candidates. The PA held one election in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah in April." Carney said the PA pledged "to demilitarize the Palestinian state.

Senior Canadian officials, briefing media in September 2025 about the statehood recognition, said that effort must include ending the PA's payments to families of those imprisoned for killing Israelis." They said it also must include education reform to ensure Palestinian students aren’t taught antisemitic messages. In February 2025, Abbas vowed to halt the practice of paying stipends to the families of Palestinians held or killed in Israeli prisons, particularly those accused of violent attacks. That has meant shifting welfare payments to a single system — called Tamkeen — based on family needs, instead of using criteria that prioritize detainees.

Israel brands the previous policy "Pay for Slay" and insists it's still happening. The PA says an independent audit, set for release later this year, found that the policy has been largely eliminated. The reform has been controversial in the West Bank, where some say the PA is abandoning people seen as freedom fighters.

The PA previously said demilitarization will require some security guarantee — such as foreign peacekeepers — against Israeli incursions. An analysis by the Israeli firm Impact-SE of textbooks and teachers’ guides issued last September for schools run by the Palestinian Authority found the texts glorify violence.