Although the incident was tragic, it was refreshing to see Prime Minister Harper use the "t" word when describing an incident that took place in Quebec. Had what happened occurred south of the border, it would have been called an unfortunate car accident or at best, an incident of road rage.
The incident occurred Monday morning in a strip mall located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, about 40 km. southeast of Montreal. Two members of the Canadian Forces were walking in the parking lot of the mall when it was alleged they were deliberately struck by a Nissan Altima.
An office run by Veterans' Affairs and the Department of National Defense to assist wounded members of the military is located in the strip mall.
After striking the soldiers the vehicle took off. It was reported the driver called 911 and told the operator what he had done. He said he did it because "he was acting in the name of Allah."
Police caught up with the car and a chase ensued. It ended about 4 kms from the mall after the car drove into a ditch and overturned. The driver and lone occupant emerged from the vehicle allegedly brandishing a knife. He was shot by police.
The driver of the car was identified as 25-year-old Martin Rouleau. He was taken to hospital where he later died.
Possible terrorist incident involving members of the Canadian Forces
One of the soldiers, whose names have not been released, was taken to hospital and listed in critical condition. The other is described as having less serious injuries. Early Tuesday morning, the Quebec Provincial Police announced the critically injured soldier had died.
During Monday afternoon's Question Period in the House of Commons, the Conservatives had one of their members, MP Randy Hoback, ask the prime minister about a possible terrorist incident involving members of the Canadian Forces. Harper replied he had heard about the incident and found it "troubling."
The PM had been briefed by the RCMP, the Department of National Defense and his national security advisor about the deliberate mowing down of the two soldiers.
Later that evening, Harper's office issued
a statement. It read, "The individual who struck the two CAF members with his car is known to federal authorities, including the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team. Federal authorities have confirmed that there are clear indications that the individual had become radicalized."
Friends of Rouleau described him as a "struggling entrepreneur" who had a young son. Despite attempts by his friends to talk him out of it, the convert to the religion of peace became radicalized. It has also been reported, he was prevented from flying out of Canada during the summer after it was determined he wanted to go to Syria to join the Islamic State.
The criticism of Harper's handling of the situation is just beginning. Tom Muclair, leader of the NDP the party to whom there has never been a war worth fighting and who opposed the Conservatives' decision to participate in air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria, criticized the PM's statements as being "premature." According to Mulcair, the PM should have remained silent and let the police do their job.
Undoubtedly, there will be more criticism in the days to come of Harper not wasting any time referring to the attack on members of Canada's military as being a terrorist attack when it appeared to be a deliberate act by a radicalized Muslim who said he did it for Allah. In the days to come Liberal leader Justin Trudeau will no doubt have something to say. He's probably mourning Rouleau's death and bemoaning the fact he died so young before the root causes of his actions could be determined.
At least Harper did not do what the Obama administration does. Despite much evidence to the contrary, they continue to label the Fort Hood shooting as "workplace violence." It does not seem relevant to the administration that Major Nidal Hasan had communications with Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the killing of 13 people and the wounding of 32 others at the military base in 2009. The fact Hasan was heard yelling "Allahu akbar" while he was gunning his fellow soldiers down didn't matter; it was workplace violence plain and simple."
Ditto for the beheading that occurred last month in Moore, Oklahoma, where Alton Nolen, 30, was charged with the beheading of a woman and the attempted murder of another person. The Muslim convert was upset that his fellow employees would not heed his advice and convert to Islam. But because Nolen had worked at Vaughan Foods before being fired and the violence took place at the factory, it was labelled just another case of workplace violence.
There may be some validity to Mulcair's argument that Harper acted too quickly in labelling the incident as a possible terrorist act. But at least he was not afraid or too politically correct to use the "t" word. At least he didn't call it an unfortunate case of road rage.
