Tories would create national security commissioner; strong support by other conservatives

Ottawa Citizen ^ | 07/19/05 | Richard Foot

[Heartofsong83]

Tories would create national security commissioner Harper

Richard Foot The Ottawa Citizen

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

WASHINGTON - Conservative leader Stephen Harper told an international gathering of right-wing political leaders yesterday he would take Canada more deeply into the U.S.-led war on terrorism, and would create a national security commissioner to oversee the work of police and security agencies.

But it was Mr. Harper himself, more than his plans for Canada, that seemed to interest fellow members of the International Democrat Union -- a group of 26 conservative-minded party leaders, presidents and prime ministers -- gathered here yesterday for a meeting chaired by Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Mr. Howard singled out Canada, along with Taiwan, as one of what he called "a few near misses" in 2004-05 -- where "centre-right" political parties came close, but failed, to win national elections.

"A few more votes in Taiwan and Canada, and the outcome might have been different," Mr. Howard said. "But I think Canada's going to have a re-match soon."

Mr. Howard, who recently won re-election as Australia's right-leaning prime minister, introduced Mr. Harper to the meeting by saying: "We are all watching Canada with great interest (because of) an election anticipated in 2006."

Mr. Harper focused his brief remarks on improving trade within the Americas and on increasing Canadian contributions to the war on terrorism.

He said a Conservative government would "begin the long task of rebuilding Canada's Armed Forces, increasing our troop strength and ensuring that we have the equipment worthy of a NATO, G8 nation.

"We believe Canada can play a stronger role in the war on terrorism," he added. "A Conservative government will establish the Office of the Commissioner of National Security, whose job will be the co-ordination of Canada's security agencies."

Mr. Harper offered no details about such plans.

However, Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day, who attended the meeting with Mr. Harper, said a "national security commission" would be created in Ottawa to oversee the work of agencies such as the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and border services, to co-ordinate their work with the military, and to share information with other countries.

Such duties now fall at least partly under the office of Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.

Last year, the Liberal government also created the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, housed at CSIS headquarters in Ottawa. Federal departments and agencies involved in domestic security are required to feed information to the centre.

Mr. Harper remains in Washington today for a meeting at the White House between leaders of the International Democrat Union and U.S. President George W. Bush.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005

[Sam Gamgee]

Sadly, the Conservatives will never take power in Canada. The media is controlled by the Liberals and canucks are too stupid to question what they see on TV.

[Heartofsong83]

You never know. You saw how much the MSM brainwashed the Americans last year and look what happened!

[Sam Gamgee]

Yeah, but 80% of American don’t believe what they see on the news. I have a feeling Canadians actually do believe the news – especially the government run CBC. How else do we account for the fact Martin was able to trample all over our democracy to hold onto power and still enjoys the same support going into the last election? We are basically at banana republic stage in our history.