03.15.2016 08:30 AM

How will Trudeau react to the first domestic terrorist attack during his tenure? (updated)

And so:

TORONTO – A brazen knife attack that sent two Canadian soldiers to hospital was disturbing enough, but police sources say it was the attacker uttering the word “Allah” that prompted Toronto Police to call in terror experts.

Chief Mark Saunders told reporters outside of the federal building at 4900 Yonge St., north of Sheppard Ave., Monday that the male suspect used “certain comments” that were as concerning as the violent attack.

He did not elaborate, but several police sources say witnesses told them “Allah” was used.“Some heard him say, ‘Praise Allah’ and others heard ‘Allah’ or ‘Aly,’” a police source told the Sun.

“Several heard the man use this terminology. It’s not something you take a chance on and this is why the call was made to the police agencies who handle terror issues.”

The RCMP, CSIS and OPP are now involved in the investigation.

Ironically, the elder Trudeau was pretty good on this terrorist stuff. He didn’t screw around.

The son – as we saw have seen for years, now – finds it challenging. My sense is that he fundamentally believes that the usual response to terror – the one, ironically again, favoured by his own father – isn’t the right one.  He may be right about that, but public opinion is not on his side.

Anyway. We are all grateful that the injured soldiers will be okay.

We would also be grateful, equally, for a government response on terror that is clear and coherent.

Like we always got from Pierre Trudeau.

UPDATE: And here is the accused.  So, has anyone questioned the Prime Minister yet? There’s not much he can say, of course, but I suspect the Canadian Armed Forces personnel – who take their orders from him – would like to hear from him.

UPDATED AGAIN: Trudeau responds, here. Good. Would be no different with Harper. 
 

82 Comments

  1. pipes says:

    His “terrorists need a hug” paradigm wont be enough. We need some indication of consequential leadership right now.

    When I am King there will be changes…….big ones!

  2. P. Brenn says:

    I disagreed with some things Pierre Trudeau did but the “just watch me clip” re War measures act and FLQ really defined him as a leader… this may turn out to be another lone wolf but both physical and mental health of the two CF personnel will be impacted for ever…and this impacts all our CF personnel/civilain staff in all of Canada.

    • doconnor says:

      For me what defined him has a leader is that he realised he was wrong to invoke the War Measures Act and created the Charter of Right that was supposed to prevent it from ever happening again.

      • Kelly says:

        Exactly!

      • Vancouverois says:

        The same so-called “Charter of Rights and Freedoms” that allows Bill 101 to continue in Quebec?

        You remember Bill 101 – the language law that discriminates against children based on their bloodline, and attempts to suppress one of the official languages of Canada?

        • P. Brenn says:

          Exactly

        • Mike says:

          I wish people would learn their history before spouting off.

          The not withstanding clause was put into the Constitution to appease the premiers. They were afraid that without it the courts would usurp the will of the elected legislators. Hmmm, where have we heard that before?

          Without the not withstanding clause the premiers would not have agreed to the Charter, and would not have repatriated the Constitution.

  3. smelter rat says:

    Perhaps he’ll just let the police do their work and resist running around like his hair is on fire.

  4. Bruce A says:

    What’s the media reaction if he’s white and says he’s Napoleon?

    There’s no need to panic and overact. Look what it’s done for the Americans.

    • Bill says:

      If white people shouting Napoleon were committing terrorist acts all over the world then people’s reaction would exactly the same as it is to Islamic terrorists. Pretending people’s reaction is racially motivated is not only stupid but dangerous (Muslims are not a race). There is a diverse group of visible minorities (and visible majorities in some communities) such as Chinese, Filipino, Sikh, etc and no one is targeting them. Canadians are not racist and their concerns about radical Islam is completely justified.

      • Bruce A says:

        North American politicians overreact to everything. Exaggerate everything.

        Well, I wus sittin’ home alone an’ started to sweat
        Figured they wus in my T.V. set
        Peeked behind the picture frame
        Got a shock from my feet, hittin’ right up in the brain
        Them Reds caused it!
        I know they did . . . them hard-core ones

        Well, I quit my job so I could work all alone
        Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes
        Followed some clues from my detective bag
        And discovered they wus red stripes on the American flag!
        That ol’ Betsy Ross . . .

        North America really is in a bubble.

        Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
        WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN

    • e.a.f. says:

      Bruce is quite correct!

  5. davie says:

    We have to bomb somebody, or they will think we are weak. We haven’t bombed Morocco yet, and there are some Muslims there. At least, I read that there are.

  6. Cory says:

    Just another unrelated member of the lone wolf pack. Nothing to see here.

  7. Matt says:

    Hmm…

    I thought the Liberals said pulling our jets from the bombing mission was going to prevent this kind of thing.

    • smelter rat says:

      What kind of thing?

    • Ridiculosity says:

      The Liberals said nothing of the kind… What the Liberals DID say is that Canada can better assist by dedicating our military efforts (and dollars) toward training forces to fight and destroy ISIL. Having 10,000 additional jets in the air still wouldn’t stop the actions of a lone wolf.

  8. Maps Onburt says:

    Just in from the CBC… Sonny’s Dazed (aka Junior Selfie) in a breaking news conference on this misguided stabbing: “He didn’t say “Allah!” when he attacked those soldiers… he said “Achoo!” He was obviously suffering from some sort of allergic reaction and I believe that this is because of all those nasty Glutens in the air and so I am announcing a new regulation to ban glutens in Canada because they are really nasty things and also they are not Halal so are very disrespectful of Muslims” PM Trudeau said beaming for the cameras as he’s standing beside a an Imam holding a loaf of unleavened bread.

  9. godot10 says:

    Prime Minister Kumbaya has no time for a statement. He is off for another photo-op at the United Nations, and some pandering to dictators and autocrats, so he can win a Security Council seat.

    • Kelly says:

      Ummm…Harper’s pandering to American and British oligarchic interests is what got us into this mess, in the first place. Those countries have the resources to clean up the mess they made all by themselves, even if it were to bankrupt them. Our being there is tacit endorsement of the illegal American and British invasion of Iraq.

      • Matt says:

        The Liberals signed us up to go to Afghanistan.

      • Matt says:

        And we joined the ISIL fight at the request of Iraq’s democratically elected government.

        Nothing illegal about. Sorry to burst your bubble.

        • Kelly says:

          “Iraq’s democratically elected government.” You’re joking, right? There’s a a big practical difference between “democratically elected” and DEMOCRATICALLY elected…which is why Baghdad is still standing only because of Iranian support of the Shia-dominated “Iraqi” government. As for the Kurds, they couldn’t care less. They basically have their own country now and we are helping them solidify it…because that’s where most of the oil is. Except Turkey isn’t happy about that…which is why they are shelling Kurds…confused, yet?

          Basically, before the fall of the ottoman empire, we never had any of these problems during the modern era. The Western powers have never had any business in the middle east, and we still don’t.

      • The Doctor says:

        The people who are currently pandering to oligarchs are PM Selfie and Stephane Dion, who are dragging their heels on the whole issue of passing a Canadian version of the Magnitsky Act. Because apparently they’re not terribly concerned that Putin anf his goons are torturing, killing and poisoning their political opponents.

  10. Liam Young says:

    Let’s just hope that now that ‘Allah’ has entered the fray again, the various police and spy agencies will get the massive budget hikes they’re all jonesing for. This is absurd.

  11. Caligula Jones says:

    Somehow, if the authorities announced that there were 60 white, WASPY neo-nazis being investigated as potential threats, the left would be singing a different tune:

    http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/csis-60-individuals-with-suspected-terrorist-links-back-in-canada-1.2807158

    or make it 90:

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/08/rcmp_tracking_90_individuals_in_terrorism_probes.html

  12. Kelly says:

    The cops are doing the right thing. “Accused charged with attempted murder, assault w/ a weapon, weapons dangerous, aggravated assault.” I don’t see any terrorism related charges. So what if the guy said Allah made him do it. That sounds like someone with Paranoid Schizophrenia. Voices in his head.

    Here are some facts: The USA and UK illegally invaded Iraq, leading to the chaos from which ISIS emerged. The US, UK and Saudi Arabia armed rebels to take out Assad in order to shrink Iran’s and Russia’s sphere of influence. That led to a power vacuum in central and eastern Syria that ISIS gladly filled at which point things really started going to shit for the Hapless Brits and Yanks. In order to save face, they “invite” a bunch of western countries to join them in the fight against terror (read: in a PR exercise to justify our illegal invasion of a sovereign country). Harper, never shying away from bending over for our colonial masters — present and former — stupidly sent jets into the fray.

    Does anyone really think this attack would have happened had Canada not foolishly (and possibly illegally) sent a token fleet of rusting F-18s over there? This is a mess the UK and USA made. THEY should clean it up. As tragic as the circumstances are for the victims of ISIS — and make no mistake, they are real — Canada did not start this and should be providing humanitarian aid as any moral person would. But joining a continuation of an illegal invasion, when the US and UK have the military resources to do it themselves? It’s unconscionable.

    • Matt says:

      Uh, you do realize there have been plots to attack Canada by Islamic terrorists long before Canada started bombing ISIL targets right?

      Toronto 18 ring a bell?

    • davie says:

      Also good to see articles coming out about what we(NATO) did to Libya, a crime for sure.
      I figure our government(s) knowingly committed this crime in our names. All they had to do to keep us quiet was, again, to cynically natter Right To Protect.

      (Although, to be fair, it was a success in that there is no more action to set up a Libya backed currency for African trade and commerce, and Africa is still a repository of resources for Western business and financials for future decades.)

    • Caligula Jones says:

      “Does anyone really think this attack would have happened had Canada not foolishly (and possibly illegally) sent a token fleet of rusting F-18s over there?”

      So, kinda like we were asking for it?

    • Caligula Jones says:

      Oh, and considering that al Queda threatened Canada over our role in Afghanistan, not sure what your point is.

    • billg says:

      Providing humanitarian aid to the victims of ISIS and Assad?
      If all the West is willing to do is provide humanitarian aid we’re going to need a bigger continent.
      There is a Genocide occurring right in front of our eyes.
      The largest displacement of people since WWll.
      So, by all means, a blue ribbon committee to discuss who is to blame is the next practical step.
      And kudos to the Prime Minister of my country for his comments today.

  13. Matt says:

    UPDATED AGAIN: Trudeau responds, here. Good. Would be no different with Harper.

    Disagree. Harper would have probably thrown in references to radical Islam here and there.

    And Holy cow Justin is getthing shredded on his twitter.

  14. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    These alleged lone-wolf attacks clearly demonstrate the weakness of our domestic intelligence gathering. We have CSE but it is limited to foreign intelligence. CDIS to defence and CSIS to primarily foreign.

    Sure, CSIS handles domestic within the purview of judicial warrants but that is too limited a jurisdiction as it relates to domestic intelligence gathering.

    Neither can we rely on Five Eyes to adequately cover our domestic requirements.

    In short, we need a full-fledged DIA to handle this.

    • e.a.f. says:

      “long wolf” attacks. You’ve been reading too many spy or comic books. You can not protect the country against a “lone wolf”. they don’t communicate. Lone wolf attacks are sort of like spousal stalkers, who kill. You can’t ever get away from them and they don’t give up.

      We have enough “real” problems in this country without manufacturing them. We don’t even know if this “attacker” was mentally ill. If he was mentally ill, then its no different than the two women in Toronto who attacked and killed complete strangers. Shit happens. We kill more of each other via drunk and distracted driving and most of those drivers don’t ever see jail time. We need to put this in perspective. For all the years G.B. had to deal with the IRA when it was going full tilt, they survived. yes, they had operations in place, but the IRA going at it. So until we reach that sort of level, we just need to get on with life. Not all the ranting and raving is going to stop a “lone wolf” or the odd group of idiots who want to plan some great “bomb attack”. have a look at your regular crime stats. No one is too upset about that. In Surrey, B.C. they have drive by shootings as a regular occurance. Have they done anything? Not so Much. I’m, sure Toronto has several drive bys a week. Life goes on.

      We ought not to give these guys some glorified status. They are just regular criminals and ought to be treated as such. We have gang taskforces to deal with gangs and the H.A. Treat these thugs the same way. They are no different. It doesn’t matter why they kill. they kill. that makes them just murderers. We have enough conspiracy laws, attempted murder and murder charges on the books to use against anyone. If they’re mentall ill, treat them as such also.

      • Cory says:

        Mental illness and terrorism are not mutually exclusive.

        In fact, I would say the vast majority of terrorists are mentally disturbed. I’d say it’s almost a requirement.

        • smelter rat says:

          Where did you read that? Popular Psychology?

          • Cory says:

            Just logic. Being mentally disturbed does not mean one can’t be a terrorist.

            In fact, I’d say that being wanting to kill innocent people is a big sign of a mental issue.

            Do you disagree?

  15. Art says:

    It’s really quite something to read conservative’s comments here and on twitter. I expect they would like to get out the bombers and pass a few more anti terrorism laws before we even know all the details. It’s really this paranoid mentality that describes them and gives rise to situations like we have south of us with Donald Trump.

    • John from Missasauga says:

      Well Art ,please explain to me how you know the commenters are Conservatives and or Trump fans ? Do people that have concerns always identify as Conservatives,is there a secret code that only non Conservatives can see ,A.H.

  16. Mike Adamson says:

    Just let me know when it’s safe to go outside again.

  17. SirGeoff says:

    If we aren’t going to remove his citizenship (assuming he is a terrorist), then at least let him retain it in the jail of our choosing!

  18. Jon Evan says:

    Like her or not, but Margaret Wente has a sober analysis of JT calling him “the face of the past” referring to his ‘Third Way’ progressive ideas! What is happening in Germany and other places in Europe and in the US election is stunning as well with populism rising fueled by people feed up with many things. JT needs to sober up as well. His enthusiasm for the UN is not shared by many populists because for one thing the UN has not solved very many things and it’s new religion of Climate Change few Canadians care about. When the economic recession comes or worse Canadians will care about only one thing and it won’t be carbon tax!
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/justin-trudeau-a-leader-with-no-parade/article29220490/

    • Art says:

      Your comment is, of course, complete bs. Trump supporters represent maybe 20% of the American population. This is the same in Europe. They just happen to be a loud and rowdy 20%. It’s the same old 20% that has always been the shit disturbing element of the population.

  19. Matt from Ottawa says:

    Although I agree with you Warren that his message was sufficient and your’re right, probably what Harper would’ve said, I dont think its the message that some people might take issue with, rather its the messaging.

    I was over at my parents for dinner tonight and CJOH, Global (and im sure the other news outlets ) said that Justin made his statement in a tweet. There are several problems with this. 1) As someone who has been criticized numerously about being challenged on this topic, a tweet unfortunately doesn’t suffice. Just a tweet makes him engaged with only voters who have a twitter account, my 70 and 71 yr old parents dont have twitter, and frankly, nor do many citizens over the age of 35 (alot do, but even more do not). Secondly, given that his account is probably used by him but definitely used by his “Team” ie) Katie, Gerald, etc, were those really his words, or someone elses? And finally, although the soldiers were not severely injured (thankfully) I think an act such as this deservers a little more than a statement that comes within the 140 character limit. Although I am happy he sent a tweet, I think he also shouldve made a more public statement. Especially since his Tweets are generally fluff (2 of them about PI day within the past 24 hours)

    • The Doctor says:

      A tweet is entirely appropriate, because it reflects how vapid Justin is.

    • Matt says:

      Shortly after the stabbing incident against our soldiers, Gerald Butts retweeted a pic of an “e-card” with the following written on it:

      “People are losing the spirit of the Ides of March. It’s not just about stabbing, it’s about coming together to stab in groups”

  20. patrick says:

    A lone,mentally ill, delusional individual, following whatever is currently in vogue to justify personal angst and rage, is impossible to defend against. As are any other assaults driven by despair, delusion and mental illness not spouting any current bogey words. But lets over react. Lets go nuclear. Lets pretend we actually live in a Harry Potter world with magic, demons, mystical magical eternal tours and give a pathetic, vile nasty core of individuals that holy war slaughter they claim to desire. Lets wipe out millions and billions to expunge the equivalent contents of a half empty Sky Dome with an arsenal of stolen guns, kitchen sink bombs and horrific videos. Fear is good. Paranoia better. Death glorious. Go Trump! He’s perfect for this.

  21. e.a.f. says:

    In a country of approx. 35M, one person attacked 2 soldiers. it isn’t good, but on the other hand its a pretty good record in an open, free and democratic society.

    We don’t know much about the attacker, so my comments would be restricted regarding him, regardless of his name. we don’t know if it was actually “terror” motivated or if it is mental illness. Until we know that, we ought to keep a leash on some of the “opinions”.

    Trudeau’s response covers it all.

  22. He reacted with a single tweet.

  23. Mclind says:

    How about the reaction if-
    A mentally deranged person brandishing a dagger entered and stabbed several in a Recruiting Centre saying
    ” Jesus Christ told me to kill all!”

    Has this ever happened?
    Didn’t think so.

  24. Brooke V says:

    Way wrong on this Warren. An arson attack on a Mosque gets a visit from Trudeau and an attack like this is a tweet. Thats the first response from our PM. But you are right about his Dad and how he would have handled it.

  25. marjie D says:

    http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/canadian-pm-trudeau-we-wont-attack-isis-even-if-bombed

    On January 6th in an interview in Vancouver, Trudeau clearly said that he would not retaliate to a bombing by ISIS or if as in Paris there was many Canadian killed by ISIS. He will concentrate on being multi cultural and this would solve the problem. He is also going to be bringing in 100,000 additional refugees. Why? Because his mind does not work well. He is mentally ill. Please click on above and listen to his illogical logic.

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