In the Commons Tuesday, Harper told MPs that the government’s “thoughts and prayers” are with the family of Patrice Vincent, a 53-year-old warrant officer with the Canadian Armed Forces who died after being struck by a vehicle the previous day in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
One other soldier remains in hospital and the perpetrator of the attack, Martin Couture Rouleau, was shot by police after a car chase.
“This was a despicable act of violence that strikes against not just this soldier and his colleagues but frankly against our very values as a civilized democracy,” Harper told the Commons.
Earlier in the day, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said the attack had been “clearly linked to terrorist ideology.”
The Official Opposition pushed for more information.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair indicated he was still concerned by how the previous day — long before Quebec police spoke about the incident — Harper’s office had planted a question with a backbench MP who asked the prime minister in the Commons for information about unconfirmed reports of a “possible terror attack” against the soldiers.
Harper had said he found the reports “extremely troubling.”
Mulcair said Tuesday he hopes Harper isn’t using the issue for his own political benefit, to bolster his leadership credentials in a time of crisis.
“I certainly hope that that’s not what the prime minister of Canada is doing — latching on to this kind of crisis to help himself. I know that Canadians deserve better than just that. They deserve full answers.”
He noted that Harper continued to use strong language Tuesday about the threat to civilization and called upon the prime minister to provide information to Canadians to back his statement.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was cautious when asked if he thinks Harper is trying to use the crisis for his own political benefit.
“I think that’s a question that certainly members of the press gallery and Canadians can ask. But as an opposition politician, I’m very much focused on demonstrating that this should be beyond politics.”
When Parliament resumed in mid-September, Harper delivered a speech warning that Canadians live in a “dangerous world” and presenting himself as best poised to confront tough international issues such as Russian aggression and Islamic extremists in Iraq.
Earlier this month, the majority government passed a motion to send Canada into an aerial combat mission to Iraq for six months to battle ISIL. Both the NDP and Liberals opposed the mission.
On Tuesday, new public opinion research released by Abacus Data show that Harper’s decision to join the war is supported by a majority of Canadians.
The Oct. 15-17 online poll of 1,248 people found that 20 per cent of people say Harper has shown “good judgment”, 34 per cent say his judgment has been “acceptable” and 23 per cent say his judgment has been “poor.” Another 24 per cent did not know enough to provide an opinion.
Abacus chairman Bruce Anderson said the poll suggests that Harper “is taking a course that people feel comfortable with, though not necessarily enthusiastic about.”
Anderson said he thinks the Tories, with an eye on the next election, are trying to draw public attention to what they will argue is a “judgment gap” between Harper and Trudeau on foreign affairs.
“I see it as a comprehensive effort to take some of the partisanship off the Stephen Harper image, position him more as a national and international leadership voice.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: BY MARK KENNEDY
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