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.
Tag Archives: Procurement
QP: Terrorism and Ebola
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.
Roundup: Raising the spectre of domestic terror
It was an odd event yesterday – a Conservative MP asking the PM during Question Period to respond to “unconfirmed reports” to a domestic terrorism link to a hit-and-run case in Quebec involving two members of the Canadian Forces, where the suspect was shot and later died. It was only hours later that the RCMP released a brief statement that the suspect was known to them, and that he may have been radicalised. It’s still early days in the investigation, but one wonders if it’s perhaps too soon to suddenly believe we have ISIS cells operating in Canada, and that this wasn’t an isolated incident where one individual who, by all accounts, was a recent convert for whatever reason, and decided to act on the vague ISIS threats that were made public in media reports. I guess time will tell, but expect the government to start using this incident as justification for greater counter-terror legislation. At the same time as this story was breaking, the Director of Operations of CSIS was at a Senate committee, saying that they do the best they can with prioritizing their investigations, but can’t cover every base because of budget limitations. Duly noted.
Roundup: 28 instances, fewer charges
The RCMP say they have disrupted or intervened in 28 instances where people have been involved in high-risk travel, be it people returning after fighting with radicals abroad or when they plan on heading over. No word on how many people have had their passports revoked, and there have apparently been no new names added to the no-fly list, and there have been very few charges under anti-terror legislation. The government will likely try to use this low figure to say that we need even more anti-terror laws, and yet it makes one wonder about the actual scope of the problem. Andrew Coyne wonders about the threat that ISIS poses to Canada directly, and if people should be shrugging it all off. (Spoiler alert: no).
Roundup: Countdown to an announcement
Word has it that on Friday, Stephen Harper will announce our combat role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq. It also sounds like two of our refuelling jets are being readied for the mission. That will mean that Parliament will become seized with the debate and eventual vote (never mind that it’s a trap) early next week. There’s also no indication where he’ll make that announcement, but it’s unlikely to be in the Commons, because, well, it’s a Friday and Harper never, ever darkens the door of the Commons on a Friday (let alone makes a major announcement there, but that’s another story). Andrew Coyne gives his thoughts on a deployment here. That said, I think this talk about decisions to put soldiers into harm’s way needing some kind of special consent and the knowledge that our parliamentarians have our soldiers’ backs is a bit overblown, while pressing for a vote can simply curtail debate and damage accountability.
https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/517337138770083840
https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/517337562860359680
QP: A few answers on Iraq
Before Question Period got underway, the Speaker rose to make a statement. Scheer gave a reminder about his role as it is laid out in O’Brien and Bosc, and reminded members that the current practice, upheld by successive Speakers, is that he has no authority over the content of answers, quoting Speaker Milliken several times. He reminded them that it is up to MPs to give him those powers, but did caution MPs to be more judicious in their language. When things got started officially, Thomas Mulcair asked about the end date of the engagement in Iraq. With Harper off in New York, James Bezan stood up to tell him that the clock started on September 5th, and chided the NDP for offering no suggestions for stopping ISIS. Mulcair made a dig about Bezan not being a member of government before asking how many soldiers were on the ground at present. Bezan deferred, but when Mulcair pressed, Bezan said that the commitment was for 69 personnel who would provide assistance to Kurdish forces. Mulcair demanded a vote on deployment, and Bezan noted all of the other deployments that they didn’t demand a vote for. For his final question, Mulcair demanded a full public inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women. Kellie Leitch said that families of victims were thankful to the government for coming forward with their Action Plan™. For his question, Justin Trudeau cited a report saying that this generation of Canadians would be worse off than their parents, and wondered what the government was doing to change that. Joe Oliver responded by touting assistance for low-income Canadians. Citing the inter-generational wealth gap, Trudeau wondered if the government would vote for their EI credit proposal, but Joe Oliver responded by reading his previous statement in French. Trudeau pressed on their plans for the vote, but Oliver said that the last thing the Liberals were qualified to talk about was EI.
Roundup: Contempt, tempers, and losing the plot
Thomas Mulcair’s snide exchange with the Speaker during yesterday’s QP continues to resonate around Ottawa, with reminders that Scheer doesn’t currently have the powers to police the content of answers (MPs would have to agree to give him those powers), and musings about this kind of contempt of parliament and remonstrations about how this is what makes people cynical. And the worst part? That even over the Twitter Machine, Paul Calandra continues to play the part. It has also been noted, and I fully agree, that by losing his temper and going after the Speaker, Mulcair made the story about himself rather than Calandra and his utter nonsense.
Media upset with me, gee what am I to do? Tell you what, I will stand up for Israel who are on the front lines fighting terror every day.
— Paul Calandra (@PaulCalandra) September 24, 2014
It's not up to Speaker Scheer to discipline poor answers, and you lose focus on govt stonewalling when you attack the Speaker. #QP
— Bob Rae (@BobRae48) September 23, 2014
Roundup: An emergency debate, such as it was
The Commons had their “emergency debate” on the situation in Iraq last night, using debate loosely, of course. After all, “debate” these days tends to largely mean reading monotonous speeches into the record that were all pre-written and don’t actually debate what has already been said. The NDP hammered away at demanding a vote on deployment, never mind that military deployment is a Crown prerogative and thus not subject to a vote, and in fact, shouldn’t be because it launders the prerogative and the accountability. But if Mulcair wants to give Harper political cover so that he can, in the future, say that the Commons decided on the matter and that they are culpable when things go wrong because there was a vote, well, it makes it kind of awkward for the opposition, no? It’s part of Responsible Government – the Commons has given the government the authority to govern, and if they don’t like it, then they can withdraw confidence. Voting to “make decisions” is not actually their role – accountability is. The NDP were also childishly mocking the Liberals for largely not being there for the debate – except that they only got two speaking slots the whole night, which they used near the beginning, and as we’ve established that it’s not a real debate, it does seem fairly pointless to have a bunch of people there to simply endure repetitive prepared speeches – and make no mistake, they are repetitive – with no real ability to respond or add to what’s been said. But this is the state of our parliament these days.
QP: Four new members
The first day back in the Commons kicked off with the four MPs who won by-elections at the start of the summer — two new Liberals and two new Conservatives. When things got underway at last, Thomas Mulcair led off by asking, in both languages in the same slot, how many members of the Canadian Forces were being sent to Iraq. Harper gave a general figure of Air Force members flying in supplies, and “several dozen” members of the Special Forces for an advisory role. Mulcair asked — again in both languages — why there wasn’t a vote on the deployment. Harper reminded him that a government that has the confidence of the Chamber can deploy Forces, and this wasn’t a combat mission. Mulcair switched topic to working parents with poverty, to which Harper reminded him that labour markets were largely provincial responsibility and there was no need to reinstate a federal minimum wage to create two classes of workers. When Mulcair tried to press, Harper reminded him of all the great things they were doing for families. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and without visibly reading, asked about why the EI tax credit offers more incentives to fire workers than to hire them. Harper insisted he didn’t know what Trudeau was talking about, and when Trudeau spelled it out, Harper fell back to the “45 day work year” canard.
Obligatory note: Newly elected MPS aren't supposed to pretend to resist being dragged into the Chamber. That's just new speakers. #QP
— kady o'malley (@kady) September 15, 2014
Someone shouts "Where's yours, Tom?" #QP #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) September 15, 2014
Roundup: Back with a countdown
Parliament is back! Yay! Now let’s obsess about how everything is a pre-election narrative, start polling relentlessly, and speculate wildly about the mere possibility that there would be an early election call without any hint of a justification for there to be one! Oh man, aren’t fixed election dates and the year-long campaigning in advance of them just the bestest thing ever?