Canada is lobbying Russia to support strong sanctions against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but there's a "significant gulf" between the two countries over the issue, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Sunday.

"We're continually pushing them to do the right thing and to work at the (UN) Security Council and elsewhere," Baird told CTV's Question Period.

Baird said he had a long telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Friday to reiterate Canada's position that tougher action is needed from the council.

He also told Lavrov that Russia needs to put more pressure on the Assad regime to stop the killing.

"We think the most important thing is to get tough United Nations Security Council sanctions, just like Canada, the European Union, United States and the Arab League have put in," Baird said.

Baird said he wanted to "express Canada's deep concerns" about the Syrian crisis and ask the Russians "to get tougher with the regime in Damascus."

"Obviously, we have a difference of opinion. There's a pretty significant gulf between our position and the Russian's," he said.

Baird said he still believes there's a diplomatic solution available for the country and that Canada's first goal is to stop the violence and then find a path to political reform and transition.

"We've got to take every action diplomatically that we can take to bring about a peaceful resolution to this challenge," he said.

He also cast doubt on international military intervention in Syria, calling it a much "tougher neigbourhood" than Libya, where NATO forces implemented a no-fly zone and bombed key military targets of the Moammar Gadhafi regime until it collapsed.

"As bad as Assad is, he does enjoy the support of a pretty sizeable minority of the population, whether it's the Alawite community, the Christian community . . . obviously Gadhafi had no support," Baird said.

"If we escalate the violence on either side it will just lead to more killing, so just because it worked in Libya doesn't mean it will work in Syria," he said.

Baird said a July meeting in Paris of the Friends of Syria, a collective of countries that support the opposition and the six-point peace plan, is expected to enlist more countries.

Around 80 nations have joined the loosely connected organization, but that could swell to more than 100 at that conference, Baird said.

Canada also supports the UN decision to remove its 300 observers from active duty, saying they were repeatedly targeted by regime forces and armed militias that support it.

"It just simply wasn't safe any longer for the UN monitors," he said.

"It's a tough call, but I support it."