10.22.2014 10:11 AM

Ottawa, right now

Here is an incredible video shot by Josh Wingrove of the Globe. It is looking down the Hall of Honour towards the library of Parliament. On either side of the hall are the rooms where MPs meet for caucus every Wednesday.

51 Comments

  1. mea culpaws says:

    if we insist on bombing innocent brown people back to the stone age don’t be surprised if they hit back with a club.

    • TimL says:

      Huh? You mean like the Quebec-born white guy who ran down the soldiers in Quebec?

      • mea culpaws says:

        How thick can you get? If you bomb the shit out of Irag and Afghanistan and kill 100.000 people then why the fuck are you surprised when they hit you back with a club since it’s all they have if you bomb them back to the stone age and if we (the west) hadn’t dismissed the Iraqi army there would not have been a vacuum for Isis to fill. Comprende.

    • Raymond says:

      Who said this was perpetrated by “brown” people?

    • Elisabeth Lindsay says:

      Are you kidding me? It has been confirmed that the shooter today is a 32 year old Canadian from Quebec. Has a criminal record going back several years in Que. Also gang associated crimes in B.C.

      Where did you come up with “brown people” reference??

    • Ben says:

      Wow, what a sick thing to say, did that soldier do any bombing of brown people? Disgusting man.

      • mea culpaws says:

        One more time: the difference between “causation” and “justification” is so obvious that it should require no explanation. If one observes that someone who smokes four packs of cigarettes a day can expect to develop emphysema, that’s an observation about causation, not a celebration of the person’s illness. Only a willful desire to distort, or some deep confusion, can account for a failure to process this most basic point.

    • Steve T says:

      Well, it sure didn’t take long for the idiots to emerge from the woodwork, did it?

      How about you wait for the body to be cold before you start with the “we get what we deserve” speech, OK?

  2. davie says:

    This link did not work for me…but I did look at it on a tv news site. Sure were a lot of shots fired! WE will have to see what happens later today for Malala’s honouring.

  3. Ron says:

    The questions I haven’t heard asked:

    Where are the other 89 guys on the RCMP watch list ?

    Will the War Measures Act be activated to flush them out ?

    • Greg Walker says:

      Certainly agree with your first query BUT the ‘War Measures Act’? No bombs exploding in mailboxes at this point in time nor has their been a well defined or any factual evidence of a conspiracy case been presented. What have we got here really – trigger happy police initiatives that aim to kill suspects? Many would suggest that capturing and ‘grilling’ suspected terrorists would be the far smarter thing to do. Just becoming aware of this matter so the discussion on this is speculative at this point.

      • roger says:

        Trigger Happy Police – are you fucking kidding me? Dumbass.

      • Ron says:

        I read that the shooter is another one who was stopped trying to get to Turkey to join IS in it’s medieval march to the New Caliphate. His
        passport was seized. These radicalized losers have been radicalized by someone. They must think that they are part of something.

        It looks like conspiracy to me. Now I’m not a lawyer or a security expert, but it seems to me that the people who radicalized this joker, and others,
        need to be found and incarcerated forever.

  4. Liam Young says:

    A sad day for Canada.

  5. Kaiser Helmets 'n Motorbikes says:

    It is too early to say, but I wonder if the illusion of Canada, the aloft island of sanity in an insane world that we all imagined existed since the 1960s, ended today. Not judging, just wondering.

    Kids in lockdown in school in Ottawa. Possible shooters still out there. The city, if not the entire country, I woke in this morning is no more…

    • mea culpaws says:

      our lizard brains are 500 million years old and our cerebral cortex is not even close. i’m afraid the former will rule the day and many innocent people will be badly hurt in the weeks and months ahead.

  6. mark says:

    Tragic, as is every senseless murder anywhere

  7. Scotian says:

    It is too soon to make any reasoned opinion, and ANYONE that today tries to spin a political point out of it in this for should be ashamed of themselves, whatever the point, whatever the objective. This is an incident that is incredibly serious on its face, but we also need to be careful not to overreact to it either based on what we know as of this moment. We know two are dead as I write this, one soldier, one suspect. We know that somehow a shooter (it is unclear as to whether it is the same suspect as I listen to the RCMP press conference while I write this, but it sounds like it was started the incident shooting at the National War Memorial killing a soldier, apparently stationed there standing guard. Following that we then appear to have someone getting into Center Block of the Parliament Building and shooting took place there, with the shooter leaving. As of the 2:30Eastern police briefing it is unclear whether this is the act of a single person or more than, but they have not confirmed anything beyond an individual, which raises the question as to whether we have a lone gunman scenario going on here. It at this time appears it was the same gunman for both incidents, yet that has yet to be fully confirmed.

    The one thing that does appear to be worth commenting on is how well the security forces within Parliament reacted in doing their first job of protecting those within the building, because not only have we heard about no deaths there and I believe only one injury, and we have yet to find out what the injury is and whether it was from direct interaction from the shooter or a byproduct from the reactions in the building because of the shootings (ie like someone broke an arm by running into building, falling down while running, that sort of thing). It appears that once the shootings started Parliament security reacted very well, although at this time how a gunman got into the Center Block is unanswered, so one needs to be careful about how far one praises until that rather important question is answered.

    Overall, while clearly an act of ugliness has happened here, this is by no means comparable to incidents like 9/11/01 and similar mass killings in other attacks like in London. This so far appears to be the actions of a single individual, we have yet to see any evidence of a concerted attack, or an organized support structure for this attack, and that is in itself a major question. One must remember that with lone shooters that they are some of the hardest to stop when they appear because there is rarely any real forewarning that they are going to move into such an action, nor are there actions around them to tip it off.

    If this is the extent of what happens in this incident then we need to not let our outrage at this happening overwhelm our sense of proportion about what it is, regardless of the motives of the shooter (although those motives once known will and should define the we could call the flavour of this incident). This for Canada is something we have not seen the like of in decades, and never at Parliament Hill and War Memorial itself, but it is while serious not something one can call a major attack by any reasonable definition. It is clearly offensive, and repugnant, regardless of the motive(s) of the shooter(s), and we should all be thankful there has been so little actual harm to our fellow human beings as of this time. Please note that this is all based on what is known now, since the police are still treating this as an active incident one must be aware that more could still happen, but since it is several hours since the shootings it is not unreasonable to suspect this may be as far as it goes for this incident in terms of actual danger.

    My own thoughts and prayers are for the soldier shot on duty at the War Memorial, the family, and for all those directly affected by this act of violence. I also hope and pray that people neither overreact to what happened now, nor, once the full facts are known. I would also hope though that this is not just brushed off either, because this is something that will have profound emotional impacts in this country even if it the act of a lone gunman for whatever reason, and to downplay that would be no less wrong. I just do not want to see any side trying to make political hay when the information is so limited of what happened here and why, there is something called time and place, and this is neither IMHO for such.

    Last thought, approach this as calmly as possible, in situations like this heated emotions can be almost as dangerous as those that cause them to be inflamed. It can feel good at the time to let them run free, but one can over time find oneself very ashamed for what they said/did in said heat of the moment. Please treat this with the seriousness it deserves, but do not go beyond reasonableness about it, and try not to speculate too far beyond the known facts in any direction.

    • Warren says:

      Sorry, but I don’t think they did react well.

      I was on the Hill as a Citizen reporter in 1989 when Charles Yacoub drove a hijacked bus all the way from Montreal, onto the Hill, and then started shooting through the windows.

      One of the bullets flew nearby as I was on the sidewalk on Wellington. A cop ran over to me and said: “What the fuck are you doing?”

      I told him I was the Citizen’s cop reporter.

      Him: “I don’t give a shit. That was a bullet. NOW GET OUT OF HERE!”

      And I ran into a Senator’s office and ended up giving updates to CNN. Just like some reporters in Ottawa were doing today.

      Why do I tell this old tale? Because, after Yacoub, something like today was never supposed to happen again. That’s what we were all promised.

      And then, today, it all happens again.

      So, no, I don’t think all the expensive technology and personnel on the Hill worked well today. At all.

      • Scotian says:

        Warren Kinsella:

        I was solely referring to the way once action happened the way these forces protected those in their charge, the moments and minutes before that though, as I said, how did he get into the Parliament building with a gun needs answering, I am not willing to give any praise for whatsoever, but I am also waiting for more details before I comment on it. Your point and recollection though is welcome and an important comment to make, I just wanted to clarify that I was speaking to a very limited aspect of the action of the Parliamentary security force, not the overall security environment and actions. I also was not referring in any way to the technology, solely to the human elements in the way they acted once the threat was actually realized and reacted to.

        As I said though, that is a very limited element of a very complex security reality, and I am only comfortable praising that aspect because it is the only aspect I have heard enough to be comfortable having an opinion of in the first place. The rest of the security reality though, I want a LOT more details on just how someone could kill a soldier in morning daylight at a major monument and then get into Center Block with weapon in hand. That to me comes off like a profound security failure, but since I do not have any first hand experience with Parliament Hill or its security I am forced to wait for more information before saying more than I did.

  8. mea culpaws says:

    Ah, no-one.

  9. ottlib says:

    When I worked on The Hill I saw that view many times. My question is how did an armed man manage to get down that hall?

    I believe employees and visitors still have to go in through the basement entrance, going through metal detectors under the watchful eyes of Commons Security and several plains cloths Mounties, because the main entrance doors are closed.

    For that matter if the guy killed in the Centre Block was the same shooter from the War Memorial, how did he manage to get close the the building in the first place? The distance from Wellington Street to the entrance of the Centre Block is about 100 metres and there are always numerous Mounties stationed at key points on The Hill as well as others on patrol.

    I believe these are questions that will have to be answered as part of any investigation into this event.

    Kudos to the Sergeant-in-Arms for his good work. He probably saved a few lives today at a risk to his own.

  10. Darren Kelly says:

    Well, this is the kind of Canada all those died in the wool tories voted for, and will vote for again in the next 12 months.

    Our typical kinder, Gentler Canada, who help with peace missions don’t get attacked on our own shores. Mr. Harper and those of you who voted for him have the blood of these innocent people on your hands.

    You all discuss me.

    • Al in Cranbrook says:

      Get a grip on reality! God damn it, I sick to death of idiotic crap like that!!!

      • Kaspar Juul says:

        We have to read your fantasies so why the issue with free expression?

      • Darren says:

        Warren posted a comment on this blog, and I believe he even wrote a column for the Sun after Harper got his Majority that in 5 years we won’t recognize this country of ours.

        What he wrote was completely true, and I submit the actions over the past week prove his point. Prior to Harper, we didn’t attack other countries. We we’re the guys who came in and tried to create peace, were the guys to call when you needed a team of engineers to reconstruct a bridge and a hospital and many other socially responsible causes. We didn’t lead attacks. Let me write it again so you clearly understand. WE DIDN”T LEAD ATTACKS.

        Now we are a different Canada. One where we have to take responsibilities for our actions. Heir Harper has done everything he can to crush democracy in our country. He has made us a nation where we drop bombs on innocent people, and this past week his actions have made it so people are for the first time not feeling comfortable about going to their jobs in government buildings. Where soldiers are told not to wear their uniforms proudly for fear of harm. I could go on.

        That’s what being a Tory supporter means. A vote for the Conservative party, and Heir Harper is a vote for a Canada we don’t recognize.

        I stand by my statement. Heir Harper and his supporters have blood on their hands.

        It’s time for a change. I want the old Canada back, and coming this election, I’ll work to help defeat him.

        • Al in Cranbrook says:

          About your revisionist view of history…

          It was the Liberals who sent CF-18s to provide air cap over the gulf during the war to kick Sadaam out of Kuwait.

          It was the Liberals who sent troops to Afghanistan to take on a hotbed of terrorists.

          It was the Liberals who send CF-18s to the Balkans to put a halt to genocide in Kosovo.

          Again, get a grip on reality, pal!

          • Al in Cranbrook says:

            My bad! It was the Mulroney government that sent CF-18s to participate in the Kuwait/Iraq war. Sorry about that.

        • Al in Cranbrook says:

          And…

          Your “old Canada” never existed except in your fantasies.

          My “old Canada” stood up for human rights, dignity, liberty and freedom. And when push came to shove, went the distance…including in two world wars and Korea.

    • Duane says:

      “You all (discuss) me.”

      High level of intelligence here, no doubt, LOL!!! Definitely a well-educated viewpoint.

      • Darren says:

        Auto correct seems to have been the culprit here. But on the other hand Duane…..You weren’t smart enough to figure that out. I’m guessing your intelligence is lacking.

    • Bill says:

      Alan Henning, the taxi driver from Manchester, was on a humanitarian mission to deliver supplies to aid the children who were victims of the conflict in Syria and was beheaded by ISIS. Please tell me how you “help with peace missions” without first destroying those who have descended to this level of barbarity?

  11. Sam J. says:

    Pure laine

    L’Ancien Regime

    Convert to Islam, insane person, Jihadist, and terrorist (free your mind that it has to be either/or) Martin Couture-Rouleau, a/k/a “Ahmed”, told a 911 operator he was, “Acting in the name of Allah.” Doesn’t this neatly sum up the problem confronting Western society? The panic line has been hijacked to announce those psychologically hijacked by Allah. Nor can the “root causes” argument get traction – Ahmed was a “Caucasian” and native convert with as many “life opportunities” as could be reasonably expected.

    One retired analyst I chat with from time to time put it this way: “Everyone knows the person with the booze problem who goes on the wagon only to develop a serious pill problem. Or, like one guy I know who quite smoking cigarettes but went on to snus – chewing tobacco. The point is, deep-seated vices have a tenacious tendency to reestablish themselves. Now that Jew hatred, misogyny, spontaneous violence and vigilantism are forbidden under Nazi or KKK brands, like the addict, radical Islam represents a way to indulge these dark desires under the cover of religious freedom.”

    Also in the news, Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, the ultra-elite, Jesuit-founded, private school that groomed Justin Trudeau is under fire for terminating a 73-year old drama teacher for films she acted in 40 years ago that contained nudity. The attack upon Ms. Laurent-Auger has been variously described as, “retroactive slut-shaming,” “misogynist,” “prudish,” “grim evidence the Quiet Revolution made only superficial changes to Quebec Society,” – and “Talibanesque.” Could it be that Couture-Rouleau found in radical Islam the same uncompromising spirit, the same high, thrill, rush of violence and total moral certainty that people once found in the clerical-fascism that dominated Quebec society? Is there that much difference between pimply, silver-spooned, spoiled brats combing the internet looking for blackmail smut and an embrace of the veil and thrashing recalcitrant women?

    One recalls the official apology of Prime Minister Harper for the Indian Residential School system where schools, “operated as joint ventures with Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian or United Churches,” and the, “Tragic accounts of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse and neglect of helpless children, and their separation from powerless families and communities.” Terrorizing the “pagan – heathen – infidel – heretic – idolater” is a venerable tradition in this country. So much so, this is one of the few time Harper almost suffered a mutiny from l’ancien regime who couldn’t stand to have their sanitized history tarnished by doing the right thing. Separation of religion and state is continually resisted in this country. Jason Kenney is a dude so right-wing he sued the Jesuits over mere discussion of birth control and contraception; he systematically identified, targeted and intimidated women discussing these issues in total violation of American free speech provisions. Ayann Hirsi Ali wrote of her escape from Canada: “If I had not bolted from my family, if I had married the man my father had contracted me to, I would now be living in the Canadian equivalent of Sahra’s immigrant neighbourhood…conditioned to live in a prison within a society that is free.” Like Saudi Arabia, Canada conflates resource wealth with psychosocial sophistication. We have much of the former, are running dangerous thin on the latter.

    As the Liberal Party is intent on finding “root causes”, could it be that endless indulgence of clerical delusions, no matter how debauched, with the concomitant multiculturalism, has and will inevitably produce fanatics? A swamp always produces snakes, lizards, toads, and alligators. Perhaps if the mentality of the Jean-de-Brébeuf elite and the philosopher kings was moth-balled, their would be a reduction in violence of all kinds across the land? End tax-exempt status for all religions. Full separation of religion and state. Freedom from religion placed higher than freedom of religion. Women’s rights above clerical rights. A multiculturalism that doesn’t protect Aboriginals and natives and other vulnerable minorities is not multiculturalism. End the cult of the Black Robe. Like something dead under the floorboards, throw open the stained-glass and let some fresh air in before we suffocate.

    https://bcblue.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/trudeau.jpg

  12. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    The only good thing about these two tragedies is that politics was put aside in an act of solidarity with the victims and their families. Unfortunately, it won’t last for long. Who will be the first to use it as a wedge issue?

  13. Sean says:

    I’m sick of the media saying this guy was a “convert to Islam”. This offers far too much dignity to his actions. He is no more a “convert to Islam” than David Koresh was a Christian.

    • Sam J. says:

      Wrong.

      David Koresh = Mohammed = Warren Jeffs

      Self-appointed prophets, claimed divine visitation, sex with pre-teens, mass violence, obviously insane.

      Until this country grasps this most fundamental truth, there will be no improvement on this front.

      “Surgent enim pseudochristi, et pseudoprophetae: et dabunt signa magna, et prodigia, ita ut in errorem inducantur (si fieri potest) etiam electi.”

  14. Terry Quinn says:

    I wonder if the government could initiate the war measures act and round up all the jihadists they know for indefinite periods.

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