Roundup: Returning to normal, cautiously

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Things are slowly returning to normal here in the Nation’s Capital. After an impromptu ceremony with Harper and the Chief of Defence Staff at the War Memorial, ceremonial guards again keep vigil over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And later in the evening, the Hill once again opened to the public, with tours to resume on Monday. The police presence remains higher, but we are going about our business without hysteria. Corporal Cirillo’s body returned to Hamilton by way of the Highway of Heroes, where Canadians turned out in droves to line the overpasses to pay their respects as the convoy passed. Later in the evening, the RedBlacks game in Ottawa featured Harper and General Lawson in a ceremony to honour the two fallen soldiers this week. (And true to form, the RedBlacks lost again).

The question of course turns to the new anti-terror legislation that the government is planning on introducing, which is raising alarm bells given that the enhanced powers that they re-legislated a couple of years ago (after it had previously sunsetted without being used) aren’t being used currently. There is talk that new powers could mean lower thresholds for preventative arrests – more powers that have not yet been used under either iteration of anti-terror legislation. The Liberals have been particularly adept in pointing this fact out, along with calling for parliamentary oversight for intelligence matters, while the government has assiduously avoided answering their questions, or trying to redirect the question as Roxanne James was doing during QP on Friday:

Stephen Maher points out that there is little confidence that the Harper government will strike the right balance with its legislation given their record to date. Scott Reid writes about how it’s all well and good that Parliament unifies in tough times, but what it really needs to do is be divided, especially when that new security legislation comes down and needs to be debated and the government held to account.

On a related note, the Security and Intelligence Review Committee has issued a report that details problems with the current way that CSIS’ policies were modified to allow its agents to carry guns while operating overseas (which they’re not allowed to do in Canada – that’s the job of the RCMP). There are issues around liability given the way the policy is currently written, and this may need to be addressed in the government’s planned modernisation of the CSIS Act.

There are a couple of slightly conflicting reports of Kevin Vickers taking down the gunman, one from CP, the other from CBC.

Glen McGregor uncovers the story of the gunman’s car. Said shooter had attempted to apply for a Libyan passport, but was denied. There are also questions about how he obtained his firearm, which is why police are intent on tracking its history.

Some MPs and staff are having a hard time coping after Wednesday.

Andrew Coyne takes on some of the people trying to wedge this week’s attacks into their pre-existing ideological boxes, which isn’t helpful for anyone going forward.

Elsewhere, the mosque on Cold Lake, Alberta, was vandalized overnight on Thursday, and locals rallied around to repair the windows and clean off the graffiti all day Friday. While all of the anti-Islamic rhetoric has been ramped up in certain quarters over the past several days, it seems to be a sign of our resilience that this kind of rejection of that sentiment is being seen.

A Calgary mother whose son died fighting in Syria after being radicalised is helping to form a support group for parents in similar situations around the country, with the hopes of helping to combat future radicalisation incidents.

Not unsurprisingly, debate on the government’s “Common sense firearms licensing” bill was quietly dropped from the planned rotation this week. We’ll see if the attack this week changes the discourse on that bill.

Those promised copyright changes to allow for parties to use news footage in their advertising are not included in the latest omnibus budget legislation. Instead, it includes a measure to limit social assistance being given to refugee claimants by placing restrictions on what the federal government will reimburse to provinces. Never mind that restricting access to healthcare in this manner was overturned by the Federal Court and is currently being appealed. This had been the subject of a Conservative private member’s bill.

After the hours of calm and collected news coverage on Wednesday, Tabatha Southey wants Peter Mansbridge to narrate her life. Mansbridge responded over the Twitter Machine.

And the Queen made her first tweet! And it’s lovely.