But a spokesman for Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.) told The Hill Times that Mr. Van Loan, who suddenly added the Anti-Terrorism Bill S-7 to Monday’s House agenda last Friday, that Mr. Van Loan was unaware of the impending arrests when he decided to bring up the bill for its final round of debate.
As the debate began on Bill S-7, which contains elements that civil liberties groups argue may violate legal protections under the Charter of Rights, NDP MPs accused the government of suddenly pushing the bill forward to exploit heightened concern over terrorism after the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured 176 others in what is the worst attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
As the debate continued, up to and after the mid-afternoon RCMP announcement on Monday of the alleged terrorism-related arrests in Toronto and Montreal, government MPs accused the NDP of failing to recognize terrorism-related threats in Canada and suggested New Democrat MPs consistently oppose tough-on-crime and terrorism measures in Parliament.
NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.) referred at noon to a Toronto Globe and Mail editorial Monday that urged the government which argued that the sudden expedition of the terrorism bill “smacks of political opportunism” and was politicizing the Boston bombings. He quoted the newspaper editorial to back up his argument that the government was using the attacks in Boston as “political fodder.”
Conservative MP Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar, Man.), Parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (Provencher, Man.) shot back at Mr. Angus: “It is too bad that the NDP does not seem to understand that terrorism is a threat, we have seen it over this last week, it is not just a notion. It is not just something for academics to talk about.”
The dramatic RCMP revelation only three-and-a-half hours later that it had arrested two men—30-year-old Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal and 35-year-old Raed Jaser of Toronto—on suspicion they had plotted in an alleged al-Qaeda plot to aid or to take part in a terrorist attack against a Via Rail train between Toronto and New York City, was a shock to NDP, Liberal MPs, and journalists watching the debate. The RCMP said it was the first known alleged plot in Canada directed by the terrorist organization.
Fraser Malcolm, Mr. Van Loan’s communications director, said Mr. Van Loan was unaware of the impending arrests on the previous Friday when he changed the House schedule, substituting final debate over Bill S-7 for a Liberal opposition motion that could have exposed division in the government over the right of backbench Conservative MPs to express views on abortion.
“The decision to debate Bill S-7 was made by the government House leader, who had no knowledge of yesterday’s operations,” Mr. Malcolm said in an email to The Hill Times on Tuesday. “Operational decisions are made by the RCMP. “
When pressed to explain whether the term “operational” included the timing of the arrests, Mr. Malcolm telephoned back to say: “When he made the decision on Friday, he had no knowledge of the operations yesterday, the events yesterday, the arrests yesterday, whatever you want to say it.”
It was unclear on Tuesday afternoon when the arrests specifically took place. The RCMP media relations office in Ottawa initially told The Hill Times it did not have the time of the arrests and referred a reporter to the media relations office of the federal Director of Public Prosecutions Brian Saunders, whose prosecutors will press the charges, formally laid in court on Monday.
But the media office for Mr. Saunders said it could not release the information, because its jurisdiction is limited to the prosecution of the cases.
After an intervention by Julie Carmichael, communications director for Mr. Toews, the RCMP media relations office emailed The Hill Times to say it could not release the information because it was part of the continuing investigation.
“I am being told that the time the individuals were arrested is part of this investigation and therefore would not be released,” spokesperson Julie Gagnon said.
Mr. Malcolm did not reply to a subsequent email asking whether Mr. Van Loan was aware of the impending arrests before the anti-terror legislation debate began on Monday at noon.
But Mr. Jaser’s lawyer, John Norris, said in an email response to a question from The Hill Times that his “understanding” from a source he believed to be reliable was that Mr. Jaser was arrested at about 2:40 p.m., a half-hour after the RCMP had issued a media advisory that it was going to hold its news conference in Toronto. Notice of the event had also been leaked earlier in the day to the CBC.
NDP MP Dany Morin (Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, Que.), who took part in the debate Monday, said he believes the Conservatives exploited the Boston attacks to push forward their legislation, and suspects they would also have used the timing of the arrests on alleged terrorism activities in Canada to corner the opposition in the debate.
“Throughout the day, what the Conservatives showed me is they used the Boston tragedy, so although I don’t know if it is the case, I would not be surprised if they also used the ongoing operation also for partisan reasons,” Mr. Morin said.
Manitoba Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux also said he believes the government motives are suspect.
"What I do know is there is evidence to clearly demonstrate the government did use the issue of terrorism in the news in terms of trying to bring forward Bill S-7 in the first place. In terms of the arrests that were made yesterday, I haven't been able to make the connection. I think that it would be nice to see a little bit more transparency on the issue," Mr. Lamoureux said. "The bill has been literally on the Order Paper for months, and is it a coincidence that it comes out when does, the manner in which it unfolds? I don't believe it was a coincidence, what all ties into that, I'm not 100 per cent sure," he said.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: Tim Naumetz
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