Additional security measures will be taken as international jihadists have declared war on Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed Thursday during a stop in Delta.
Harper, who was at BCIT's Annacis Island campus to announce an apprentice loan program, faced a myriad of questions from the media about what the government will do about the terrorist threat to this country following the mass shooting at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a massacre that's drawn international condemnation.
"Let me just say this with reference, obviously, to the attack yesterday to all the questions you're asking. The reality of the world is the following: ... the international jihadist movement has declared war. They have declared war on anybody who doesn't think and act exactly as they wish and think and act. They have declared war already and are executing on a massive scale on a whole range of countries with which they are in contact, and they have declared war on any country, like ourselves, that values freedom, openness and tolerance.
"We may not like this and wish it will go away, but it is not going to go away."
Noting the effort internationally must include defeating the growing jihadist army, Harper said the federal government has already introduced measures in Bill C-44, which is making its way through the legislative process. He said additional powers would be considered to ensure security agencies have a range of tools available to them to identify potential terror threats as well as undertake other necessary actions.
"We're looking at those things very carefully," the prime minister said. "We want to make sure that we get balance where we protect the rights of Canadians and also the security of Canadians, we must protect both, and I anticipate that we'll be moving forward very early in the new session with additional legislative proposals."
The level of the security threat here, Harper explained, is decided by the director of CSIS in consultation with an integrated national security team of government. The threat level was raised last fall, prior to the shooting in Ottawa.
