There can be little doubt that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff would like to emulate former PM Jean Chrétien. Iffy would just love to become prime minister of Canada and stay in that job until he dies or wants to retire, whichever comes first or is more fun. Well, if Iggy truly wants to become King Jean the Second, he’s going to have to do a lot more than mimic Chrétien’s “don’t worry, be happy” persona.
Speaking in Masstown Nova Scotia towards the end of his summer bus tour, Ignatieff spoke about the recent terror arrests in Canada. Three alleged homegrown terrorists were recently arrested and charged with terrorism offences. A fourth was arrested on terrorism charges, released on bail and then rearrested on unrelated matters. Given the strict publication bans that apply in this country, little is known of the actual allegations. One tidbit that did leak out was that there were plans to blow up Parliament, most likely when the House was sitting.
Iggy was quoted as saying, “…it’s also very important to keep that Canadian calm about these matters. We’ve had threats to security before, we’ll have them again. And we now need to let the police and the courts-above all the courts – do that work.”
In other words, the unwashed masses shouldn’t worry their pretty little empty heads about whether or not there are terrorist plots to kill people in this country. Only the professionals should be concerned with such things. It’s nobody else’s business apparently.
The former professor knows a lot but it seems that he has been relying on the
Toronto Star for his information on the current arrests. One of the detained men, Kurram Sher, 28, had tried out for
Canadian Idol. The
Star, that gushes sympathy for alleged terrorists was fixated with this fact. The fact that a person who had once tried out for the TV show has now been arrested on terrorism charges seems kind of cute to Canada’s largest daily circulation newspaper. Like the paper, Iggy doesn’t seem to take the alleged plot seriously. After all the
Toronto Star knows who the real terrorist is – Toronto mayoral candidate Rob Ford.
Besides his “don’t worry, be happy” attitude, the prime ministerial hopeful showed that he was clueless when it came to the Toronto 18. According to Iggy, many of those who were charged were acquitted. As the
National Post pointed out, of the 18, seven pleaded guilty, four pleaded not guilty and were convicted at trial. The Crown placed conditions on six adults and minors prior to staying their charges. And the Crown withdrew the charges against one of the youths. The number of actual acquittals was: zero.
Igantieff comments put him squarely in the camp of those who believe that the Toronto 18 (and presumably those who were recently arrested) was an overreaction; the authorities were just picking on poor Muslims because of their religion. Ignatieff’s looseness with the facts was deliberate pandering to those who either don’t want to believe that terrorist threats exist in Canada or who want to excuse those threats by claiming racial and religious profiling. If the government’s main function is to protect its citizens, Michael Ignatieff should never lead Canada.
Ignatieff also talked about the presumption of innocence as if that should ease the minds of those Canadians who at least take terrorist threats seriously. Being a good Liberal and liberal, Ignatieff could perhaps be forgiven for classifying people into groups rather than looking at them as individuals. But it is individuals who are given the presumption of innocence, not the group that was arrested. Iffy seems to think that because no one had been convicted of the charges that led to the recent arrests, there’s nothing to worry about. If Iggy has some evidence that the entire plot was made up by the police and security services, he should tell us. Canadians have a right to worry about such plots and it seems there was a plot. The fact that the individuals who have been arrested are presumed to be innocent and may be acquitted in the end does not alter whether or not this country faced a terrorist plot. This was just Iggy’s way of saying that uncovering a terror plot is no big deal unless and until someone is actually convicted. Perhaps we shouldn’t worry about Osama bin Laden; he hasn’t been convicted of anything and if he is ever charged, he would be presumed to be innocent.
Stephen Harper is more like Jean Chrétien that Michael Ignatieff will ever be. Harper will be prime minister until he dies, wants to quit, or the Liberals get a new leader, whichever comes first or is more fun.
