Parliament Hill under attack

Harpo's luck keeps getting better.

He finally got his Iraq War,now, through fear,he's got the power to impose a Canadian Patriot Act.

This 'terrorist' hysteria helped re-elect Bush in 2004.Harpo must be banking that this will re-elect him and his grimey party in 2015.

As tragic as this is,I fail to fear 'terrorism on our shores' ,much like I do not fear ebola.

NorthReport wrote:

Debater - you are disgusting.

Please stop with political attacks on people at a time like this. Serveral Liberals MPs, and others are presently all over the media.

And as it turned out Jason was correct unfortunately.

North Report, stop the name calling.

Many people on Twitter are outraged rght now that Jason Kenney tried to use a soldier's death for political gain.  He often tries to benefit from tragedy.  He should have let the military or the medical doctors comment first on the health status of the soldier. He breached protocol by doing so.

alan smithee wrote:

Harpo's luck keeps getting better.

He finally got his Iraq War,now, through fear,he's got the power to impose a Canadian Patriot Act.

This 'terrorist' hysteria helped re-elect Bush in 2004.Harpo must be banking that this will re-elect him and his grimey party in 2015.

As tragic as this is,I fail to fear 'terrorism on our shores' ,much like I do not fear ebola.

Valid points.

I've been saying here for months that Harper is very much still in contention for 2015 and that if he is staying around, he has a plan for winning another election.

And yet certain posters on here recently have been insisting that Harper is finished and cannot win another election.

Harper knows that when there is fear of terrorism, it can be used to help an incumbent leader and that he can now say that Justin Trudeau dosn't have the experience to fight terrorism and that neither does the NDP since it has no experience in federal office.

 Ironically the draconian laws already on the books failed to stop this from happening.

 I feel bad for the soldier.

 And I agree, I'm glad all the MPs are safe. And that Harper will benifit from this. Which means the soldiers death will just be the first of many.

Confirmed that soldier shot at War Memorial has died.

Watch update from CBC about what we know about Ottawa situation: http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2014/10/best-net/watch-peter-mansbridge-on-what-we-know-about-ottawa-shooting

Well, if people can shop, that's the important thing, eh?

So unfortunate that this has happened. Concolences to the family and friend of the soldier.

I hope the police take whoever is responsible alive. If this is a terrorist act, then that would give law enforcement valuable information in order to stop this terrorist group. If it's a shooting spree, then that gives the legal system a chance to hold the criminal(s) responsible.

Debater wrote:

It's possible that this could help Harper do what Bush did after his first term -- reverse declining approval & popularity by becoming a 'war leader' who is needed in tough times to stand up to a dangerous world rather than those on the left who would be soft on terrorism, etc.

But it's also possible that this could backfire on Harper if Canadians don't like what is happening to the country and fear the type of consequences we may bear as a result of Harper embroiling us in a war with ISIS.

Agreed.

But I don't think that it is possible..I think it will.

I can only hope Canadians are not as foolish as the Americans (maybe we've learned something)

At the least,this helps Harpo's foreign policy bullshit and yet more draconian laws stripping away what little is left of our civil liberties.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

So unfortunate that this has happened. Concolences to the family and friend of the soldier.

I hope the police take whoever is responsible alive. If this is a terrorist act, then that would give law enforcement valuable information in order to stop this terrorist group. If it's a shooting spree, then that gives the legal system a chance to hold the criminal(s) responsible.

One shooter is dead, probably the one who shot the soldier as there has been no confirmation of a second shooter.

alan smithee wrote:

BTW,mind your heads from the inevitable military love-in and flag waving.

This is why I will stay far away from HNIC.I can already feel the dampness coming from the ocean of tears that will flood the broadcast.

Oceans of tears and seas of yellow ribbons.

The press conference was useless, no real questions were answered, so we don't know any more than we did hours ago.

alan smithee wrote:

BTW,mind your heads from the inevitable military love-in and flag waving.

This is why I will stay far away from HNIC.I can already feel the dampness coming from the ocean of tears that will flood the broadcast.

What is HNIC?

Anyway, Harper has apparently spoken on the phone this afternoon with both Trudeau & Mulcair.  Makes a nice change from his usual tendency to not bother to talk to them.

Oh, right.  I was thinking in political terms and trying to think of what acronym you were referring to. 

The hockey game in Ottawa tonight has been cancelled by the NHL.  I think it was the one between the Senators and the Leafs.  It was announced a little while ago.

And yes, Harper knows he has been going down in support for quite some time and that he needs some type of fear-based campaign to prevent losing votes to Trudeau & Mulcair.

He's probably been dreaming since the first Iraq War in 2003 that he tried to get us into of wanting to be a war leader.

Well, they have just given the all-clear and lifted the lock-down here at my office - so at the most primal level,- all is good.

Of course in terms of negotiating normal life - all is chaos with many colleagues having partners and kids in assorted locales across downtown still confined. Or 'abandoned' by the disarray in public transit, road blockages, etc. 

It probably makes most sense to stay put for a while, work late and hope the roads, bridges and buses are back to normal by the time I head out.

No we don't -- he may well have acted alone.

The way the buildings are around the war memorial the sound of a shot would bounce in various directions-- the Rideau Centre is very close and people there could have heard the echo off a wall and thought it was another shot and closer than it was. This is likely what is behind the idea that there are more people.

An "Islamic media" twitter account posted a picture of Bibeau. No word yet on his mental health history or how and why he was attracted to ISIS.

Yeah.

I read that the shooter was a Caucasian male.

It reminds me of another Caucasian male who shot up the National Assembly.

The difference? Back then Lortie was dismissed as a 'kook' ,no mention of 'terrorism' or 'terrorist attack' and it certainly was not a day that changed Québec forever.

When the picture developes,we might see this as just the actions of a deranged individual..Just like the Caucasian man that ran down those 2 soldiers in St-Jean a couple days ago.

MegB wrote:

The press conference was useless, no real questions were answered, so we don't know any more than we did hours ago.

I think it was too early for a press conference unless the objective was to inform public that the investigation was still under way.

I think some of the questions from the media were quiet silly to be asked at this point of time. 

I have heard two descriptions of the gun. "Shotgun" and "single-shot rifle". 

A couple things to consider before too many conclusions are drawn.

First there is no information on the key questions including if there was more than one shooter or what the motive is.

As facts come out it may or may not lead to political conclusions. I would not count on it.

We do not know if this is related to ISIS or if it is in what way. That would of course help answer what may or may not be justified.

Access to Parliament Hill is another matter. The fact that someone with a weapon could get past the security will of course mean changes will be made. This might even mean guard huts with security as people enter the Hill on foot could be considered rather than just in the buildings. That would be controversial given the gatherings that happen on the front lawn for events, protests and tourism shows. Alternately they could revise the way security is managed at the building. I go there regularly and it will be interesting to see how this is managed.

As to the larger implications, I have to say, I am shocked but not suprised. This has been coming.

In every society you have very small numbers of people who are ill and homicidal. The rhetoric that the government of Canada is engaged in is very high. Canada has, with its limited military abilities, declared war on "terrorists." There is no need for anyone from outside the country, or anyone who has any knowledge about Islam or Isis to be involved for Canada to have a problem. There is a conflict and there is always the risk when rhetoric reaches these kinds of levels that small numbers of homicidal ill people may feel compelled to be part of something.

I think given the timing there is likely a relationship between the involvement of Canada and ISIS and what happened but it may not be straight forward. There may not be a direct connection. But where you have this kind of conflict, people may be "radicalized" for no other reason than the conflict is there and they are attracted to it.

It is sad if this event today is used as a rationale to step up the same rhetoric that this may have been triggered by.

We all need to be cautious about participating in the kinds of public discussion that inspires panic, hatred, the actions of people who may be ill and vulnerable to being drawn in, measures that limit freedoms etc. 

There is no doubt all parties will be looking at how they use this as they use all events. The casualty may be the opportunity to step back from creating a conflict this country did not need to be at the centre of. Our PM in an effort to be the big macho leader has placed Canada as a global rhetorical leader of involvement in a war. He has not concerned himself with how that affects our society, or that we are not prepared for the security of our people that will be required. And tragically, that security is likely not against the threat he is targetting but those who are ill and homicidal who may be inspired by any rhetorical cause available.

My hope is that we learn that this is a lone person with an obvious and individual explanation -- even if it is timed due to these ISIS events. Such an explanation may help us take a step back from the ledge.

It would also be constructive if a connection were made between the rhetoric and this threat as potential cause and effect.

If we are to ask ourselves about the radicalization of Canadian people who are here and can do us harm, I want to see a question of the relationship between the rhetoric we are seeing from Harper and his people and any action here. As I heard the tone rising from him and his gang, I have become more nervous of something like this over the last few weeks.

So let's at least here make no assumptions that this is something more than one ill person inspired by our PM's declaration of war until and unless we hear different.

ETA: Now we know the person was born here and we know they were in contact with ISIS. I doubt we will get the truth of how that connection was made and what inspired it. I do believe that the involvement in this conflict has put Canadians at a risk that otherwise would not have been there. Canada's contribution is insignificant compared to the security risk at home of doing so. And that risk comes from people who may not have found a focus for their homicidal rage without our PM's declaration of war. It is mportant to make sure any response does not make this even worse. Also we can never be reminded enough of the need to address the mental health of our people in a proactive manner rather than dealing with the consequences. We may yet come to see the shooter as a victim of illness as well.

Pondering wrote:

alan smithee wrote:

Pondering wrote:

I have heard two descriptions of the gun. "Shotgun" and "single-shot rifle". 

Now let's not get ahead of ourselves and demonize long guns.

My point is that both descriptions sound like fairly basic hunting guns which would be impossible to control in Canada. Guns like that really are tools for people living in some areas. It does not seem like a carefully planned attack. Highschool shooters have been better prepared. That tells me it was an unsophisticated attack. I doubt there is more than one shooter.

Any attack that leads to a death is serious but had he been even slightly better prepared he could have done far more damage.While security should have been better this doesn't sound like the kind of attack that could be stopped by better spying. If there was any "chatter" last week it is very unlikely it was associated with this attack.

My comment was dripping in sarcasm.

But I agree with what you said.