Have to carry on': Parliamentary committee will review security
Tim Naumetz, CanWest News Service

National Post

OTTAWA - Canada's role in the war against radical Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan prompted the House of Commons to launch a new review of security on Parliament Hill, NDP MP Yvon Godin disclosed yesterday.
Mr. Godin made the disclosure as he and other MPs said they will not be cowed by allegations a suspected terrorist ring in the Toronto region planned to attack Parliament and take MPs hostage with demands that Canada withdraw from Afghanistan.

The latest top-secret security review by a subcommittee of the Commons procedure and House affairs committee began with a planning session behind closed doors in early May. The handful of MPs on the committee have met once behind closed doors since then and plan another secret meeting tomorrow with Commons Clerk Audrey O'Brien and Kevin Vickers, a retired RCMP officer who heads the House security service, as witnesses.

The MPs -- Mr. Godin, Conservative MP Joe Preston, Liberal MP Marcel Proulx and Bloc Quebecois MP Michel Guimond -- plan a private tour of all the security installations on Parliament Hill today.

Asked why the procedure and House affairs committee ordered the review, Mr. Godin noted the last major study on parliamentary security took place in 2004.

"It's the continuity of thinking of what's happening, our participation before, but even now, of a war in Afghanistan," Mr. Godin said. "We cannot just close our eyes on it."
Mr. Godin and MPs from all parties reacted defiantly to news one of 17 men charged in the alleged terrorist plot allegedly expressed a desire to behead the prime minister [not necessarily Stephen Harper] and that the group intended to storm the Parliament buildings.

A synopsis of allegations claimed the group allegedly wanted to "take politicians hostage" and decapitate them if Canadian troops were not pulled out of Afghanistan, said lawyer Gary Batasar, counsel for one of the accused.

Mr. Godin said while security must be tight, Parliament cannot shut itself down to citizens.
"We still want a Parliament that Canadians can come here and they don't need an appointment two months in advance," he said. "We have our freedom here in our country and I don't believe any terrorists should run our country."

Mr. Preston, along with a string of MPs and Cabinet ministers, had similar positions.
"We can't spend our lives being frightened," said Mr. Preston. "We've got to trust that CSIS and the RCMP can do their job and we have to carry on doing ours."

Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale said Parliament is "fundamental to the Canadian democracy" and noted Canada is one of the most open countries in the world.

"We don't want to lose that, because then the terrorists win," he said.