Canada new anti-terror laws coming as jihadis ‘declare war,’ Harper says
Warning that the “international jihadist movement” has declared war on Canada and its allies, Stephen Harper says his government plans to bring in new legislation shortly after the Commons winter break to give security agencies more powers to thwart terrorist attacks.
He made the comments Thursday during a visit to Vancouver, one day after gunmen murdered 12 at the Paris offices of a satirical magazine that had published cartoons making fun of the founder of Islam.
“We are looking at additional powers to make sure that our security agencies have the range of tools available to them to identify potential terror threats and to ... [undertake] detentions and arrests and other actions where necessary,” he said.
Mr. Harper said Canada and its allies face a war from Islamic extremists and should expect to do so for some time. “I don’t say this out of any particular pleasure or excitement, but it is a fact,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is this, ladies and gentleman: the international jihadist movement has declared war. They have declared war on anybody who does not think and act exactly as they wish they would think and act. They have declared war and are already executing it on a massive scale on a whole range of countries with which they are in contact,” Mr. Harper said.
“And they have declared war on any country like ourselves that values freedom, openness and tolerance. And we may not like this and wish it would go away, but it is not going to go away and the reality is we are going to have to confront it.”
The Prime Minister said the Conservatives have been trying to ensure the planned measures don’t go too far.
“We want to make sure that we get a balance – that we protect the rights of Canadians and also the security of Canadians. We must protect both,” he said.
“I anticipate that we will be moving forward very early in the new sessions with additional legislative proposals.”
The Commons resumes sitting January 26.
Mr. Harper said the overrun of Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State militants last year is only one example. He cited the attacks on soldiers in Canada as well as December hostage-taking in Sydney, Australia, that left two hostages dead.
“That is what obviously we are doing in concert with our allies – dealing with the very worst manifestation of this – which is an entire jihadist army that is now occupying large parts of Iraq and Syria and obviously other things we are doing both here and in concert with our allies to try and prevent and deal with terrorist planning on our own soil.”
“This is going to be unfortunately the reality of the world that I think we are living with for some time to come and we’re just going to have to face that head on and deal with it. And that’s what our government is prepared to do.”
The federal government tabled new legislation in late October to expand the powers of CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, but it made clear those changes had been in the works before the terror attacks on Canadian soldiers in October that left one dead and saw a gunman breach the main hall of Parliament’s Centre Block before being killed by security guards.
The October legislation better safeguards the identities of intelligence informants in Canada and authorize CSIS to eavesdrop in foreign countries. It contained the first legal changes to the CSIS Act since the spy service was created in 1984.
source: New anti-terror laws coming as jihadis ‘declare war,’ Harper says - The Globe and Mail
............................................
Start rounding'em up
Warning that the “international jihadist movement” has declared war on Canada and its allies, Stephen Harper says his government plans to bring in new legislation shortly after the Commons winter break to give security agencies more powers to thwart terrorist attacks.
He made the comments Thursday during a visit to Vancouver, one day after gunmen murdered 12 at the Paris offices of a satirical magazine that had published cartoons making fun of the founder of Islam.
“We are looking at additional powers to make sure that our security agencies have the range of tools available to them to identify potential terror threats and to ... [undertake] detentions and arrests and other actions where necessary,” he said.
Mr. Harper said Canada and its allies face a war from Islamic extremists and should expect to do so for some time. “I don’t say this out of any particular pleasure or excitement, but it is a fact,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is this, ladies and gentleman: the international jihadist movement has declared war. They have declared war on anybody who does not think and act exactly as they wish they would think and act. They have declared war and are already executing it on a massive scale on a whole range of countries with which they are in contact,” Mr. Harper said.
“And they have declared war on any country like ourselves that values freedom, openness and tolerance. And we may not like this and wish it would go away, but it is not going to go away and the reality is we are going to have to confront it.”
The Prime Minister said the Conservatives have been trying to ensure the planned measures don’t go too far.
“We want to make sure that we get a balance – that we protect the rights of Canadians and also the security of Canadians. We must protect both,” he said.
“I anticipate that we will be moving forward very early in the new sessions with additional legislative proposals.”
The Commons resumes sitting January 26.
Mr. Harper said the overrun of Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State militants last year is only one example. He cited the attacks on soldiers in Canada as well as December hostage-taking in Sydney, Australia, that left two hostages dead.
“That is what obviously we are doing in concert with our allies – dealing with the very worst manifestation of this – which is an entire jihadist army that is now occupying large parts of Iraq and Syria and obviously other things we are doing both here and in concert with our allies to try and prevent and deal with terrorist planning on our own soil.”
“This is going to be unfortunately the reality of the world that I think we are living with for some time to come and we’re just going to have to face that head on and deal with it. And that’s what our government is prepared to do.”
The federal government tabled new legislation in late October to expand the powers of CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, but it made clear those changes had been in the works before the terror attacks on Canadian soldiers in October that left one dead and saw a gunman breach the main hall of Parliament’s Centre Block before being killed by security guards.
The October legislation better safeguards the identities of intelligence informants in Canada and authorize CSIS to eavesdrop in foreign countries. It contained the first legal changes to the CSIS Act since the spy service was created in 1984.
source: New anti-terror laws coming as jihadis ‘declare war,’ Harper says - The Globe and Mail
............................................
Start rounding'em up
