Tag Archives: Terrorism

QP: Waiting on income splitting

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Despite it being only Thursday, most leaders were absent from the Chamber today, Harper off in Vaughan to deliver his income splitting announcement, and Justin Trudeau campaigning for the by-election in Whitby. Thomas Mulcair did show up, and started off bringing up the request from three esteemed former Justices who warned against knee-jerk legislation after last week’s attacks. Stephen Blaney assured him that the new CSIS was balanced. Mulcair didn’t want this to be a partisan issue and wanted a multi-party committee to study the issue (never mind that all Commons committees are multi-party), to which Blaney said that all parties were being offered technical briefings. Mulcair brought up Stockwell Day’s endorsement of the creation of a parliamentary oversight committee for national security, but Blaney said that SIRC was robust enough. Mulcair sniped about Deborah Grey’s interim leadership of SIRC, before turning to the issue of income splitting. Kevin Sorenson told him to stay tuned for the announcement, and proclaimed that income splitting was good policy. Mulcair and Sorensen took another round at it, before Scott Brison led for the Liberals, recalling Jim Flaherty’s opposition to income splitting. Sorenson quoted an old Brison line about how income splitting was a good thing. Brison quipped that he said a lot of stupid things when he was a Conservative, and the House roared. Sorenson repeated the praise for the plan, before Emmanuel Dubourg asked about the plan in French, Sorenson not varying the substance of his response.

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Roundup: Oversight versus good enough

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Divisions are forming in the Commons about what happened with last week’s attack, with the Liberals now accepting that the shooter was a terrorist as that is what the RCMP have concluded, while the NDP are steadfastly refusing that label, saying that there’s not enough evidence to use it (contrary to what the RCMP Commissioner has said). But before anyone thinks that this is a signal that the Liberals are going to simply follow any anti-terror legislation that the government brings down, it’s important to note that they have also been the sharpest critics on the lack of civilian oversight mechanisms and the need for parliamentary oversight for national security agencies, as have long been recommended by a number of sources. Harper dismissed those calls and said the current oversight is enough (never mind that his government reduced oversight already by eliminating the post of Inspector General at CSIS a couple of years ago), while privacy commissioners around the country sounded the alarm. Of course, in the debate over whether the shooter was a terrorist or mentally ill, there are probably elements of both present, as the Ottawa Citizen editorial points out.

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Roundup: Powers to spite the Supreme Court

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The government’s new CSIS bill got tabled yesterday, but because it was due to be tabled before the attacks happened last week, there is really nothing in there that responds to those attacks, and doesn’t include any of the previously reported measures like criminalizing the promotion of terrorism online. Instead, what it does is extend source protection and warrant provisions to help them conduct investigations when suspects go overseas. These provisions are largely in response to Supreme Court rulings that said that CSIS sources don’t have the same kind of blanket protections that police sources do. I’m also not sure about the provision for a warrant to investigate outside of the country, given that, well, it’s not the jurisdiction of our courts, so we would need some kind of agreements to operate in those countries I would think. The bill is also designed to help facilitate information sharing between our Five Eyes partners, but there are no corresponding accountability mechanisms, because the government insists that the current oversight from SIRC is “robust” and good enough. Never mind that SIRC faced significant delays in getting needed information from CSIS during their investigations, and that they misled SIRC in the course of another investigation. But hey, the oversight is “robust” and all.

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QP: Wait for the bill

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Despite it being Monday, there were no major leaders in the Commons. It left Libby Davies to lead off, asking for an update on security at federal sites. Stephen Blaney reminded her that Hill security is the domain of the Speaker and the Board of Internal Economy, but they were fully cooperating. Davies asked about the moratorium on armed forces personnel wearing uniforms in public, and Rob Nicholson said that he deferred to the judgement of the Chief of Defence Staff. Davies asked for assurances about full debate on any new security legislation, and Blaney promised that they would not overreact, but it was time to stop underreacting. Nycole Turmel picked up, asking about the National Post report that the legislation would criminalise certain Internet posts condoning terrorism, to which Blaney told her to wait for the bill to be tabled. Turmel wanted assurances that civil liberties would be protected, to which Blaney repeated his answer. Dominic LeBlanc led for the Liberals, asking for cooperation on drafting new security legislation and for detailed technical briefings on the bill. Blaney more or less agreed. LeBlanc wanted a timeline on the bill, but Blaney talked around an answer. LeBlanc pressed in French, but Blaney repeated his answer.

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Roundup: Tours resume, security under review

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Parliament Hill’s return to normal continues apace, with public tours resuming today. House of Commons and Senate security forces are also now looking at ways to better cooperate and merge some operations, but will remain separate administrations answering to each chamber’s Speaker. (This is because in the event of a physical confrontation between members of either chamber, Senators don’t want their own security answering to the Commons Speaker, leaving them vulnerable). Speaker Scheer on the Commons side has ordered a major security review, and will also be part of the OPP review of Wednesday’s incident, something RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has asked for.

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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).

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Roundup: Answers in the aftermath

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In the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack, it was an emotional morning on the Hill, with ovations for Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, speeches by the party leaders, the sight of Harper hugging the opposition leaders, and then, the reconstruction of events.

The RCMP held a briefing later in the day that included surveillance footage of the events outside of the Centre Block, and it was clear how fast everything happened, from the shooting at the War Memorial, him getting into the car, pulling it around to the Elgin entrance onto the Hill, getting out, running up near East Block, hijacking a minister’s car, driving the rest of the way to the Centre Block, where he ran into the front doors, had a confrontation with a guard that resulted in that guard being shot in the leg, then with RCMP in pursuit, the shooter headed down the Hall of Honour toward his eventual demise as he and Vickers traded shots from around a pillar. All in the space of maybe four minutes.

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QP: Updates, softballs, and dodges

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After yesterday’s events, and the statements and hugs on the floor of the Commons earlier this morning, things were settling back into their routine on the Hill. All of the leaders were present for QP, and most of the benches full, partisan members’ statements were eschewed in favour of tributes to soldiers and police, and of course, the Sergeant-At-Arms. Thomas Mulcair led things off by asking for an update about the events yesterday and about security measures for the public at large. Harper said that he was briefed and they are looking at options to increase the powers to surveil and to detain terror suspects. Mulcair asked for a public information session on the event to clarify any questions, to which Harper said that he understood that police would hold some kind of briefing later in the day. Mulcair asked about any measures being taken for those specific cases for those who have had their passports revoked, but Harper insisted that it was not confirmed that yesterday’s shooter had his passport revoked, and that there were those out there who wish to do Canadians harm. Mulcair asked for reassurance that Parliament would remain open to the public — not that it’s his decision. Harper noted that there have been incidents in the past but they wanted to remain in the same principle as before. For his final question, Mulcair wanted it noted that even if people disagree on how safety measures are achieved that they hold the same goals — not actually asking a question. Harper took the opportunity to opine on Canada’s record of unbroken democratic governance. Justin Trudeau was up next, and and brought up Paulson’s statement about the 90 individual on watch lists, and if he could update them on how many there are now. Harper said that he didn’t think the number had changed radically and that it was more of a question for security agencies. Trudeau asked about the passport revocation issue, and asked what actions were being made to arrest those trying to leave the country to commit terror. Harper noted that active investigations were underway, and that they remained concerned about the threat. Trudeau asked again in English, and got much the same response.

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Roundup: A few answers and a fuzzy line

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The RCMP gave a lengthy press conference yesterday on the “domestic terror” incident in Quebec, and laid out several more facts to the case – that they were aware that the person of interest was being radicalized, that they had been in contact with his family and the Imam at that local mosque after concerns were raised that they arrested him back in July and seized his passport after he expressed a desire to head to Turkey in order to join the fighting in Syria, but that they seemed to be making progress and that he appeared to want to turn his life around just a few weeks ago. And then the incident happened, but there wasn’t much that they could have done to prevent it because it’s not illegal to have radical thoughts, or to drive a car. One of the two soldiers that he ran down died of his injuries yesterday, the other’s injuries are minor. The whole incident raises questions about passport seizures – especially as it means that they might be more likely to commit an act of violence here in Canada – and also highlights the fact that the threshold for where an act of violence becomes an act of terrorism is a subjective one. Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said that the death of that soldier will strengthen the resolve of our CF-18 pilots headed to Kuwait. Stephen Saideman offers some perspective sauce on the whole issue. Michael Den Tandt says that Canada can’t pretend to be immune to the threat of terrorism any longer, but it depends how the government handles the next steps that will be the most telling.

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QP: Terrorism and Ebola

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With the revelations of that radicalized individual being identified in the hit-and-run in Quebec yesterday, it would be interesting to see how prominent that would be in QP. Thomas Mulcair led off asking for an update on the incident. Stephen Harper gave a “thoughts and prayers” response and called the incident a despicable act of violence. Mulcair wondered why they disclosed unconfirmed terror claims in the Commons yesterday and wanted a full briefing. Harper said that he told the House as soon as he found out. Mulcair moved onto the Ebola vaccine and the sale of the development rights for $205,000, which Harper didn’t quite answer as he reiterated that the government held the rights to the vaccine donated to the WHO. Mulcair asked about the auction of protective equipment, to which Harper responded that they made available all surplus materials when the WHO asked for them, and that they would continue to assist. Mulcair wanted clarification as to when the request came, to which Harper recounted his meeting with the WHO in New York and how Canada has been praised for our response. Justin Trudeau was up next, and after offering his condolences to the family of the soldier who was killed yesterday, and asked about those radicalized individuals under surveillance. Harper responded that they were examining the ways in which to give more tools to security organizations in order to make arrests more swiftly. Trudeau then asked about their supply day motion on the Ebola response and ensuring that the Health minister is available to committee, to which Harper insisted that the minister has been very available and they hoped a motion could be drafted that all parties could support. To close the round, Trudeau asked if the government could match donations made for the Ebola crisis, but Harper didn’t make such a commitment.

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