Canada’s Biggest Security Threat: Liberal Inaction

July 13, 2005

Our hearts and minds are filled with sympathy for the victims and families devastated by last week’s terrorist bombings in London, England. Yet we cannot help but reflect upon our own security in the midst of such tragedy.

The London bombings represent to us, as did the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in the United States, the stark fact that none of us are immune to terrorism and that we can never take our security for granted.

No man, woman or child is off limits as a target to terrorists. And, as with any other criminal, ignoring them or simply ‘minding your own business’ will not guarantee your safety. You need not live in constant fear of crime or terrorism, but to act responsibly, you must take real precautions to protect yourself and your family.

It’s been nearly four years since 9/11. That means the Canadian government has had four years to take tangible and measured action to safeguard the security of its citizens. Yet beyond impassioned speeches by the Prime Minister and his cabinet and colossal bureaucratic re-organizations, the federal government has failed to establish a coordinated, effective assault against terrorism.

The raw materials aren’t even in place. The new funding promised to the Canadian Forces won’t be delivered until 2007 and beyond. Our military still doesn’t have enough money to pay the bills each year, let alone any new money to buy modern equipment or to recruit new soldiers.

Police agencies also continue to be under-funded throughout Canada. As for our border security, it’s not a far stretch to suggest a terrorist would find it easier to enter and move about Canada unquestioned than a Canadian cross-border shopper trying to avoid paying duty on their U.S. purchases.

The plan isn’t in place. Many border crossings do not have proper access to information from federal security agencies. And among those agencies, including those new bureaucracies created after 9/11, the Auditor General says there is a lack of coordination and cooperation. The Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, one of these new Liberal agencies, isn’t even fully staffed.

In reality, in 2005, little has changed. The Liberal “strategy” for Canada’s security is strictly limited to the philosophy of “Soft Security” which means that our government does its utmost not to ‘tick off’ the terrorists. Never mind that Canada has become known as a conduit for those terrorists. Never mind that we are no longer a nation that takes a stand against tyranny.

Appallingly, one security analyst suggested the reason Canada has less to fear from terrorists than some of our allies, is that terrorists would be foolish to attack us when the net result would be akin to “closing the door in front of them”.

That attitude is an insult to the international community and it’s an abandonment of the government’s responsibility to establish effective security infrastructure to protect its citizens.

It’s unacceptable that four years after 9/11, the federal Liberal government has yet to take the war on terrorism seriously.

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