by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
June 9, 2004
Last week the governing Liberals released their party’s election platform. and it was only a few weeks ago on april 27 that the government issued its Comprehensive National Security Policy. In that policy statement, anne McLellan, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Public Security stated, "a Government’s most important duty is to ensure the safety and security of its citizens". So what does the Liberal Party platform have to say to address the issues of safety and security?
Osama bin Laden has specifically named Canada as a country that is a target for terrorist attacks. The fact that Canada did not join the americans in the Iraqi war seems to have impressed the Liberal MPs who gave former Jean Chrétien a standing ovation when he made the announcement not to send troops far more than it impressed bin Laden. Bin Laden named Canada because, although it seems to be forgotten by the Liberals, Canada was and is supporting the war against terror in afghanistan and has troops in that country.
The Liberals do mention terrorism in their platform. It is mentioned last in a list of dangers that include failed states, infectious diseases and international crime syndicates. Terrorism was also awarded last place in a list of similar dangers that were in McLellan’s april policy document.
after the events of September 11, 2001, then Prime Minister Chrétien blamed the greed and arrogance of the West (read the United States and Israel) for the terrorist attacks. The new Liberal platform, if it does anything, cements this view of terrorism by concluding that terrorism stems from failed or impoverished states and therefore throwing money at these states will end the danger. The government of Canada fails to understand that Bin Laden and other Muslim extremists carry out their attacks on the West because they hate us. While terrorists can no doubt better train and recruit in failed states such as afghanistan, the economic conditions or political conditions of those states played no part in the attacks of 9/11. Osama bin Laden, the upper echelon of al-Qaeda, and the 19 hijackers were not citizens of "failed states". Nor were they poor. The Liberal Party has learned nothing in the past two and one half years. They are content to continue on the same road that they have been on since that bright sunny day in September.
The Martin Liberals plan to increase defense spending but only for the purposes of peacekeeping and nation building. Martin scoffed at Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper when the latter announced increases in the military budget. according to the Prime Minister, increasing the combat potential of the military is a relic that is left over from the Cold War. The Liberals fail to realize that the world is in a much more precarious position now than it was during the Cold War. Contrary to what Martin and his terrorist-appeasing Minister of Foreign affairs think, you can’t sit down and negotiate treaties with bin Laden and other Muslim extremists. and during the Cold War, if negotiations failed, reliance could be put on the concept of mutually assured destruction that prevented the nuclear war that those on the left all said was inevitable.
Paul Martin, despite his former incarnation as a right wing tax cutter, is further to the left than his predecessor was. What we are seeing during the election campaign is the real Paul Martin whose vision of Canada during this time of terrorist threats is to debate NDP leader Jack Layton over the number of windmills that should be erected. Martin made it clear in the party’s platform that our foreign policy will be ceded to the United Nations; the group that revved up the fax machines while Rwandans were butchered. The Liberal platform makes it clear that Canada will not take any steps to protect its citizens unless the international bureaucrats okay it.
The Liberals plan to increase the military by 5,000 troops to "greatly (enhance) Canada’s capacity for peace support". The platform of the governing Liberals is completely silent on security of the homeland or troops that are capable of fighting terrorism abroad. To decrease the threat of terrorism the government plans to "reduce or forgive debts owed by poor and deserving countries". The gentleman in the cave, as former Liberal MP Brian Tobin once referred to him, must be quivering in his sandals. The Liberals’ thinking is the same as those who think that constructing more basketball courts can end violent crime. Only the consequences are much greater.
anne McLellan’s statement that a government’s most important duty is the protection of its citizens sounded good. If only it were true.