Domestic terror wins big in today’s flip-flop vote by Dion’s Liberals

http://canadiancoalition.com/

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Ottawa, Canada – Today, the Liberal opposition lead by Stéphane Dion joined with the other Opposition parties to kill two provisions of Canada Anti-Terrorism Act that were passed into law by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 2002. With all the hyperbole generated by these provisions, it is essential that Canadians understand their implications and judge for themselves if today’s vote was a win for human rights or for those plotting acts of terror in Canada.
The “preventative arrest” provision is an appropriate and constitutional response to today’s mass-casualty terrorist threat. This provision allows police to detain persons whom they believe “on reasonable grounds” to be about to commit an act of terror. Within one day, or as soon as constitutionally possible, the detainee must be brought before a judge to validate the detention.
The other provision authorizes the use of “investigative hearings” to require a person who has material knowledge of a terrorist act to be examined by a judge with regard to information that may prevent a planned attack or help identify the perpetrators of a past attack. Again, the law requires “reasonable grounds” to proceed. Moreover, it allows the person in question to have counsel, and prohibits the use of information drawn from the person to be used against that individual in any later criminal proceedings, save for reasonable exceptions relating to perjury and associated offences.
CSIS has identified over 50 terrorist groups operating on Canadian soil and over $256 million have been identified by FINTRAC in 2005/2006 as having possible links to terrorism. Today, Canadians lost vital tools needed to stop a massacre before it happens and to compel those with knowledge of terrorist activity to disclose such vital information to a judge.
CCD notes with deep concern the record of the Liberal Party in relation to several terrorism issues. These issues include its opposition for thirteen years while in government to proposals for a judicial inquiry into the Air India bombing, its refusal to ban Hezbollah until finally being forced to do so by court action, and its refusal to list the notorious Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization. And now in Opposition, the Liberals are further weakening our ability to break up terrorist cells and prevent the kind of massacres of civilians that have occurred in London, Madrid, New York, Amsterdam, and countless other cities. Along with other elements of the public record, these matters raise grave questions about whether the Liberal leadership is pandering to radical religious and ethno-cultural voting blocks at the expense of Canadians’ safety and security.
“For over a decade, the Liberals ignored pleas from victims’ families for an inquiry into the Air India bombing,” said David Harris, Senior Fellow for National Security for CCD. “Today’s vote ordered by Stéphane Dion may have effectively killed the ongoing police investigation by making it impossible to compel testimony from material witnesses. One must question the determination of the Liberals to leave unexamined the worst act of airline terror in history and its bungled 20-year prosecution, and to abandon those whose lives were shattered by this atrocity.”
“Liberal leaders’ continuing disregard for the innocent terror victims of Canada, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Israel and India triggers disturbing concerns about the price politicians are willing to pay for votes,” said Alastair Gordon, President of CCD. “By opposing extension of their own Party’s anti-terrorism provisions at a time when Canada is specifically targeted by bin Laden and Islamic extremism, Liberals owe Canadians an explanation. Is the risk to Canadians’ safety and security to be regarded as just another reasonable trade-off in the struggle for political power?”

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