Making CSIS ‘smarter’ at counter-terrorism easier said than done
They say that no matter what you do, you can always do it better; there is inevitably room for improvement. Then again, they also say that the perfect is the enemy of the very good; sometimes the search for the ultimate accomplishment comes at such a high cost, with respect to time and resources, that […]
Time has come for Liberals to get a spine on guns in Canada
OTTAWA—Guns are now a mental problem. So says American president Donald Trump, who continues to claim there is “no political appetite” for legislation governing the guns themselves even though he is finally admitting that it might be wise to improve background checks on those who want to purchase them. On this side of the border, Liberals […]
It’s time to take aim at the political inaction on gun control
Every time there’s a mass shooting in the United States, Canadians quickly jump on their high horses to crow about how much better we are than our dysfunctional American cousins. This past weekend was no exception. On Aug. 3, a purported white supremacist, echoing much of the same rhetoric as has been idly spewed by […]
Countering violent extremism in Canada needs better scrutiny
OTTAWA—If there is one buzzword that has gained a lot of ground in Canada and elsewhere in the post 9/11 period it is CVE (which stands for countering violent extremism; sometimes it is also called PCVE—preventing and countering violent extremism). This field of work is the purview of those who claim to be able to […]
Liberals passing the buck on weapons ban
On June 14, The Globe and Mail reported that the Liberal Party has finally decided what it will do about the thorny issue of legal access to handguns and assault weapons. Regrettably, Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair announced that his party has ruled out a ban on handguns, arguing that “we’d […]
We live in a world obsessed with terrorism, but Canada doesn’t have a terrorism problem
OTTAWA—It might strike the reader as odd that someone with so much invested in counterterrorism is here making the suggestion that we need to worry less about terrorism. After all, if we stopped spending so much time talking about it, wouldn’t that put me out of a job and undermine my regular column in The Hill […]
‘Some won’t rebuild’: MPs say hundreds of their constituents face hard choices in wake of Ottawa River floods
As many residents in Ottawa-Gatineau region, Quebec, and New Brunswick grapple with the fallout of another year of intense flooding of the Ottawa River last month, MPs say, it’s forced hundreds of their constituents to decide whether to rebuild or relocate. Drastic flooding in those areas has resulted in damages of more than 17,500 homes […]
Gender-based lens helping spy agencies overcome biases, says public safety official
Terrorist groups have been able to exploit preconceived biases towards women, but increasingly, intelligence agencies are becoming more sensitive to these blindspots, says an official from Public Safety Canada during a panel on national security at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Ottawa. “If we look at counterterrorism as an example, our mindset is that […]
All eyes on Red Chamber, as Senators push back on key government bills
A Senate committee tasked with studying the government’s new rules around solitary confinement doesn’t have enough time to properly do its job, says a vocal critic of Bill C-83 in the Upper Chamber. But Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has warned a legislative vacuum will be created if the bill isn’t passed by the time […]
Time is ticking for MPs, Senators to pass human rights bills
There is an enormous amount of consequential human rights legislation approaching the parliamentary finish line. The time to get it across shrinks daily. Only four sitting weeks remain in this session of Parliament for MPs, five for Senators. Rather than return to Parliament in the fall, MPs will be out hustling for votes. That means […]
