Working notes, observations, links and other errata from a parliamentary bureau reporter in Ottawa, Canada
Meet Omar Khadr's lawyer, now working for train terror suspect
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Regarding the question of timing … two op-eds that counter lawyer John Norris’s facile insinuation:
“The politics of terror — and timing
By Tasha Kheiriddin
iPolitics Apr 22, 2013
… Does the timing “smack of opportunism” as NDP MP Charlie Angus claims? Possibly, but politics is often about seizing the moment — and the moment is often tragic. In the U.S., President Barack Obama’s ill-fated gun control legislation only took wing after the horrible shooting of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut — just as Montreal’s Polytechnique massacre in 1999 inspired gun control legislation in Canada. The deaths of seven people due to E. coli poisoning in the water supply in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000 were heavily politicized by the opposition provincial Liberals in the 2003 election — and led to tougher water quality standards after they were elected. The recent suicide of cyber-bullying victim Rehtaeh Parsons may spawn changes to the Criminal Code about the dissemination of intimate images over the Internet; Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to meet Premier Darrell Dexter of Nova Scotia to talk about the issue April 23. …”
“What better time to debate terror legislation?
BY L. IAN MACDONALD, OTTAWA CITIZEN APRIL 23, 2013
… All that being said, a season of terror seems to be an appropriate moment for a debate on terrorism, and the delicate balance between security and civil liberties — whether and when the former should trump the latter. After all, we do have this thing called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, entrenched in the Constitution. At the Justice Department, they have a standing rule that all legislation must be “Charter proof.” …”
Regarding the question of timing … two op-eds that counter lawyer John Norris’s facile insinuation:
“The politics of terror — and timing
By Tasha Kheiriddin
iPolitics Apr 22, 2013
… Does the timing “smack of opportunism” as NDP MP Charlie Angus claims? Possibly, but politics is often about seizing the moment — and the moment is often tragic. In the U.S., President Barack Obama’s ill-fated gun control legislation only took wing after the horrible shooting of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut — just as Montreal’s Polytechnique massacre in 1999 inspired gun control legislation in Canada. The deaths of seven people due to E. coli poisoning in the water supply in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000 were heavily politicized by the opposition provincial Liberals in the 2003 election — and led to tougher water quality standards after they were elected. The recent suicide of cyber-bullying victim Rehtaeh Parsons may spawn changes to the Criminal Code about the dissemination of intimate images over the Internet; Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to meet Premier Darrell Dexter of Nova Scotia to talk about the issue April 23. …”
“What better time to debate terror legislation?
BY L. IAN MACDONALD, OTTAWA CITIZEN APRIL 23, 2013
… All that being said, a season of terror seems to be an appropriate moment for a debate on terrorism, and the delicate balance between security and civil liberties — whether and when the former should trump the latter. After all, we do have this thing called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, entrenched in the Constitution. At the Justice Department, they have a standing rule that all legislation must be “Charter proof.” …”