War Against Terrorism - the Harper Way

Whispering in the Wind (WITW 52) November 5, 2014

Sir Winston Churchill is undeniably one of the most respected political figures of the 20^th century.  After successfully dealing with a major international crisis at the end of World War II, Sir Winston mused, that a politician like himself would ”Never let a good crisis go to waste”.  In my view Steven Harper has, in a perverse way taken Churchill’s political advice to heart and is now using the “Never let a good crisis go to waste” slogan as one of his guiding lights to win the next federal election.

Terrorism in Canada: a National Crisis?

Under the cloak of a well-publicized ISIS threat in Canada, against Canada, Steven Harper has taken the political high road and put Canada and Canadians on an elevated plateau of risk, fear, intrigue and danger.  To address the recent “domestic terrorism” acts Mr. Harper is seeking additional measures and authority for Canada’s police force (RCMP) and Canada’s spy agency (CSIS).  I agree with enhanced measures to investigate and control terrorism and near-terrorism activities in Canada, nevertheless there are limits and some major concerns. 

As to the politics of terrorism, Mr. Harper made a major political mistake by not engaging the Opposition Parties in waging war against ISIS – in my view waging war means the country’s leader has to speak on behalf of a unified country and represent a unified parliament.  I actually think the opposition parties in Canada were politically disposed to accept a limited combat role if there was appropriate “parliamentary” oversight – that’s not the way the vote went in the House of Commons which in my view demonstrated a divided country. 

In the aftermath of the domestic terrorist acts in Quebec and Ottawa Prime Minister Harper is seemingly doing well, including his introduction of anti-terrorism legislation that is currently being debated in the House of Commons. The proposed legislation will then be further discussed, hopefully in a less partisan fashion in committee and then further discussed and debated with sober, second thought in the Senate – now that’s the Canadian Way.  Unfortunately the anti-terrorism legislation is going to be passed into law, doing it the Harper Way.  The prime minister has already determined that he will appoint the oversight committee rather than using a “parliamentary” oversight mechanism to monitor and keep the RCMP and CSIS in check.