Harper Should Add These Three To His Disaster Recover Team

At least they recognize that a terror attack in Canada is inevitable (Al-Qa'ida targets Canada) and it is obvious that a firm and definitive response will be necessary in order to ensure that the left wing doesn't call for appeasement......

February 14, 2007
High-profile Liberals contradict their leader on terror measures
By JENNIFER DITCHBURN

OTTAWA (CP) - Three former Liberal ministers emerged Wednesday to oppose their party's position on a pair of contentious anti-terror measures, arguing like the Conservatives that the provisions should be safeguarded as a matter of public interest.

Former public safety minister Anne McLellan, former finance minister John Manley and former justice minister Irwin Cotler said the measures, introduced in the wake of the 9-11 attacks by their government, should not be allowed to lapse as Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has suggested.

Dion was not at his caucus' weekly meeting, but sources said his MPs debated the issue at length behind closed doors.

The Criminal Code now provides for the preventative arrest of someone suspected of planning a terrorist act and closed investigative hearings where judges can demand evidence on suspected plots.

The measures have a built-in sunset clause that requires Parliament to review and extend them every three years. Their new expiry date is March 1. With most of the Liberal caucus, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois aligned against keeping the measures, they are likely to expire.

Just before the last election, both Cotler and McLellan argued that the measures should be kept in place.

"The fact they haven't been used is evidence of the fact they haven't been abused," Cotler said. "On the other hand, the fact that they have not been used is not evidence that they might not at some point have to be used."

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