Thread: Canada lobbies U.S. legislators on security as White House u

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June 15, 2006 - 18:29

Canada lobbies U.S. legislators on security as White House urges vigilance

BETH GORHAM

WASHINGTON (CP) - The White House urged Canada to maintain its vigilance over terrorists Thursday as Ambassador Michael Wilson led a team of security experts to Capitol Hill.

Wilson, who took along top officials of the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Canada Border Services Agency, said he wanted to calm fears among some U.S. legislators that Canada's over-run with Islamic extremists.

"We can persuade with the facts, like how many people we have stopped coming into Canada (with) immigration officers in other countries who are intercepting people," said Wilson.

"The numbers are quite impressive. That type of information, they value."

The CBSA says about 5,400 people without proper documents en route to Canada were stopped abroad in 2005.

The ambassador's lobbying offensive included the chairmen of the intelligence and judiciary committees in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Two congressmen have blasted Canada as an unwitting haven for a large number of terrorists, blaming soft immigration laws.

American administration officials have been uniformly congratulatory on Canada's sweeping counterterrorism busts early this month.

But White House spokesman Tony Snow also warned Thursday that Canada needs to stay on top of security.

"Border security is something where you never say: 'Boy, I'm perfectly satisfied,' " Snow told a briefing when asked if President George W. Bush is happy with safety measures in the north.

"It's an ongoing effort because terrorists move around, they change locations, they change tactics. And, as a consequence, you have to maintain a state of constant vigilance," he said.

"So I think the point is that we congratulate the Canadian government, but we also realize that you've got to be vigilant, you need to keep working the problem."

There's no such thing as a "fixed picture" on security, said Snow, when "a plane ticket suddenly can bring a terror cell into a country."

Beyond praise for Canada, there have been some startling reactions to the arrests of 17 terror suspects. Canadian security analyst David Harris, for instance, told U.S. legislators at a hearing last week that the country should shut its doors to all immigrants until it fixes safety risks.

Wilson pointed out that Harris served out just an eight-month contract at CSIS about 16 years ago and has old information.

New York congressman Peter King has said Canada has a "disproportionate" number of al-Qaida terrorists, while Indiana's John Hostettler said Canada's in denial about its terrorism problem.

There's also been renewed vigour among U.S. officials about meeting the deadline of Jan. 1, 2008, for strict new border identification requirements at border crossings.

"Delaying it will not get us to where we need to be," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carols Gutierrez said Thursday. "We had a terrible experience on 9-11. I would just ask, how much would we invest to avoid another one?"

Canada's Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, who joined Gutierrez and his Mexican counterpart to launch the North American Competitiveness Council, said trade ties are stronger despite all the angst over security.

"Security brings prosperity and it's tied together."

Said Gutierrez: "We don't believe that the two goals are incompatible. We believe that we can do both."

Canada's anti-terror busts are routinely mentioned now in the United States as legislators debate their own potential for homegrown extremists.

Often, it's in the context of Canada's co-operation with American officials in the global war on terror.

But many are also asking whether enough attention has been paid to the northern border while the administration focused on the waves of illegal immigrants arriving from Mexico.

"We're looking very carefully at both borders," John Scott Redd, director of the National Counterterrorism Center assured a Senate hearing.

"As indicated by the events of the last several weeks, you know, there's no place that's really safe. So we work closely with the Canadians and we clearly are watching that border, as well as the southern border."

Arizona Republican J.D. Hayworth told Fox News that the U.S. should look at using military forces and the best technology on the northern line.

"We have to secure our borders. We're a nation at war."

"As indicated by the events of the last several weeks, you know, there's no place that's really safe. So we work closely with the Canadians and we clearly are watching that border, as well as the southern border."

Yeah, you're watching it, but that is about it. I think the borders require more than watching.

Yea, watch as the US sets an example to CA of how to secure its borders. Bush, you're a hypocrit. Talk to the Irqi government about representing the people, only you can't even secure your own borders for your citizens. I wish the hell those Iraqi leaders could really see what our President is doing with his own country.

It is ludicrous that our president has our troops over in Iraq defending their country while our own is going down the toilet. That argument is getting harder and harder to play to the american people when we see everyday what illegal aliens are doing to and in our country. You are right he is a hippocrate