The world is beginning to see some movement in Syria, with an opposition starting to take shape and Arab League members holding firm against Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Tuesday.

Baird is travelling in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where he met with his ministerial counterpart.

Baird says Arab League leaders have done a very good job upping the ante recently in their comments about Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that al-Assad should step down, and compared him to former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was captured and killed last month.

An opposition is starting to take shape and some of Syria's defence forces are defecting, Baird pointed out, on top of a "demonstrably more robust" response from the Arab League.

"There is no ability at this stage to get a resolution passed on this issue due to the UN Security Council.... We can't even get a resolution of condemnation, let alone sanctions, let alone what we saw in Libya, through the UN security council. That's regrettable. We've had discussions with a number of folks in recent weeks on that," Baird said.

"There has not been a call, as there was with [Libya's National Transitional Council], for outside military protection. Having said that, each one of these situations we'll tackle on its own individual circumstances, but we're beginning to see some things move in Syria."

Suncor still operating for 'civilian' power

Canada has strengthened sanctions against Syria, but Suncor, a Calgary-based oil company, is still operating in the country. Baird says while Canadian sanctions shut down Suncor in Libya, its natural gas operation in Syria is a different case.

"In Libya their oil production was for exports and we didn’t have any inhibition whatsoever for having the sanctions fully apply to them in that circumstance," he said.

"The natural gas is used exclusively, to the best of my information, for civilian electricity generation," Baird said. "Certainly the conclusion that I've come to is that cutting off families from the electricity grid would have a significant detrimental consequence on popular support for reform. And at this time we've decided this time it would be negative, not positive, to cut hospitals, places of work, and families' homes off electricity. So that's why there's a differentiation."

The NDP critic for foreign affairs, however, says Suncor's operations may not be helping civilians alone.

"Knowing the way things work in Syria and the regime, I'm far from convinced that the operations profit more to ... civilians and not to the Syrian elites," said Hélène Laverdière, a former diplomat.

"We know how the regime works and how the regime controls a great part of the wealth of the country."

Suncor is working in partnership with a state-owned company, meaning some of the profits from the natural gas sales will go to the regime. Suncor says it recognizes the concerns that exist and is monitoring the unrest. A statement on the company's website says the current sanctions don't impact its Syrian project.

MP urges more action on Iran

Canada also imposed stronger sanctions on Iran on Monday following a report by a UN watchdog that suggested Iran was working on a weapons program under the cover of a civilian energy project.

Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, a human rights expert, said in Question Period that he pleased the government toughened the sanctions against Iran, but asked them to go a step further.

"Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has emerged as the epicentre of the nuclear weaponization program of international terrorism from Argentina to Afghanistan and massive domestic repression. Will the government list the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity under Canadian law as unanimously recommended also by the foreign affairs committee, which tabled its report in the House?" he said.

A spokesman for Baird says Canada keeps listings under constant review to ensure their effectiveness, and points out that the sanctions target senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

"Many Iranians are drafted into the Revolutionary Guard for military service and have no responsibility or involvement in the nuclear program," Joseph Lavoie said in a statement.

"Listings decisions on any group should be made in a way that minimizes impact on those who do not contribute to terrorist acts and who are not voluntary members of the group."