anti-terrorism • mackaycartoons

Tuesday August 11, 2015

August 10, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 11, 2015

Stephen Harper defends travel ban to terror zones

After several weeks on break, the Mike Duffy trial resumes this week.

Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is defending his proposal to ban travel to parts of the world controlled by terrorists, saying it’s not a “human right” that such travel is allowed.

[slideshow_deploy id=’1787’]

“This is limited to only those areas that are clearly under the control of terrorist organizations. We’re talking about a few, small number of areas in the world,” Harper said Monday morning during a campaign stop in Markham.

“Obviously parts of Iraq and Syria would be the kinds of areas that we’re talking about,” he said.

On Sunday, Harper said a newly-elected Conservative government would introduce a legal crackdown on so-called terror tourism and go after Canadians who travel to such areas.

[caption id=”attachment_5962″ align=”alignleft” width=”216″] 2011-2015[/caption]

Harper said that the government advises against such travel and anyone who does go to these hotspots is “taking their life into their hands.”

“Frankly, these are not areas where families go. These are areas where we know why people are really going. They are going to terrorist training,” Harper said Monday.

“There is no human right to travel and visit ISIS. That is not a human right in this country,” he said.

At an early-morning event in Montreal, Trudeau dismissed the travel ban idea as little more than a distraction from the Conservatives’ dismal economic record. (Source: Toronto Star)

2015-08-11tearsheet

Saturday June 13, 2015

June 12, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 13, 2015

Bill C-51 is killing the Liberals’ chance to become the official Not-Harper party

The federal Liberal’s cynical centre-of-the-road support of the Conservatives’ latest anti-terrorism legislation may be hampering its bid to become the Not-Stephen-Harper party.

Tom’s sad days

The signs have been apparent for weeks: Liberal “progressives” — the civic-minded, donating, engaged grassroots types vital to the survival of the party — have found themselves horrified by leader Justin Trudeau’s support for a bill that has been criticized, hyperbolically, as the forerunner to a Canadian police state. The party has faced overwhelming social media criticism from its grassroots, a sudden surge of polls showing the NDP neck-and-neck with the Liberals and the Tories and, lately, there are even more ominous signs of Liberal struggle.

… even sadder days

At least four Liberal candidates have stepped down in recent weeks and some tangential evidence suggests that a backlash over C-51 may be at least part of the reason. Of course, the trend pales in comparison to the handful of high-profile Conservative incumbents who have recently stepped aside ahead of October’s general election. It also happens to be fewer than the number of NDP candidates who have similarly done so — although the Dippers find themselves short due to their unexpected success in Alberta. (Three federal candidates were elected to the provincial legislature in May.)

Justin’s downfall?

While the Alberta bump may be contributing to the federal NDP’s rise in the polls, C-51 may be simultaneously weighing the Liberals down.

The Liberals announced they would support a mildly amended C-51 earlier this year in what was largely thought to be a bid to bolster the party’s flailing national security credentials. Trudeau’s contradictory stance on Canada’s military mission in Iraq and Syria proved to be none too popular among the middle class he’s so arduously trying to court.

But if Trudeau’s objections to Canada’s limited role in quelling revolutionary, genocidal jihadists in Syria and Iraq proved to be — shockingly — un-compelling, his support of C-51 is equally baffling. (Continued… National Post)

Published in The Kelowna Capital News, Grand Falls Advertiser (Newfoundland), The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, and National Newswatch. Illustrated a piece on the blogsite of David Akin a year later.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

February 20, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, February 21, 2015

Stephen Harper rejects calls for more oversight of new spy powers

Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected calls for more political oversight of broad new spy and police powers, saying his Conservative government has “strengthened” oversight by turning to Canada’s judges.

Speaking in Surrey, B.C. Harper shrugged off calls by four former prime ministers and a growing chorus of critics who want a more robust role for parliamentarians in guarding against potential future abuses by security agencies.

The NDP and Liberals and now a group of 22 prominent Canadians have called for the establishment of a committee of elected officials that would oversee CSIS’ exercise of its proposed new mandate to disrupt emerging terror threats — as exists in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

On Thursday, Harper said the current watchdog agency, SIRC, already provides “independent expert third-party advice” about CSIS’s compliance with the law. He said Bill C-51, a sweeping bill that expands CSIS powers, would require CSIS to get a warrant from a judge on a case-by-case basis if its actions to disrupt threats will violate constitutional rights.

“We as a government are not interested in politicians doing that oversight,” said Harper.

Other senior Conservative ministers echoed the prime minister’s new line of defence, cited the evolving “mutating” threat, and broad public support for the bill reported by pollster Angus Reid.

Canada faces a “high probability” of a jihadist attack from homegrown terrorists, Defence Minister Jason Kenney warned Thursday as he defended the bill and hinted Ottawa will extend the military mission in Iraq.

In his first major address since taking over the national defence portfolio 10 days ago, Kenney said that while risk of conventional war has diminished, “the threat of terrorism has never been greater.”

Someone altered the cartoon and posted it on Twitter. Surveillance picked it up though.

Harper and Kenney spoke as the government voted to limit the initial debate in the Commons on the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act 2015. Bill C-51 would give CSIS agents broad new powers to actively disrupt suspected threats to Canada’s national security; criminalize the “promotion of terrorism,” ease the government’s ability to ban suspects from airline travel, and provide greater protection to secret witnesses and classified evidence. It would allow more information sharing among 17 federal agencies related to any “activity that undermines the security of Canada” — a definition the NDP says is overly broad and could be used to target First Nations and environmentalists, or the government’s political enemies. (Source: Toronto Star)

Posted at iPolitics.com

A hole in the federal government’s anti-terrorism legislation #C51 #cdnpoli http://t.co/htkYrib77F pic.twitter.com/7ZkX58QOR5

— Graeme MacKay (@mackaycartoons) February 20, 2015

Wednesday June 12, 2013

June 12, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 12, 2013

Data-collection program not targeting Canadians

Defence Minister Peter MacKay says Canada’s own secretive online and phone metadata surveillance program is “prohibited” from looking at the information of Canadians and is directed at monitoring foreign threats.

MacKay responded Monday to a Globe and Mail report that stated he had approved a program in 2011 that tracks the data surrounding online activity and phone calls searching for suspicious activity, but not the messages themselves.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair asked MacKay in question period on Monday if the Conservatives were monitoring the phone and email records of Canadians.

The program was initially brought in by the former Liberal government in 2005, but was later put on hiatus over concerns it could lead to warrantless surveillance of Canadians. The Globe reports the program was quietly reinstated on Nov. 21, 2011 after MacKay signed a ministerial directive, which is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, only the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), which is an arm of the Department of National Defence, can actually eavesdrop or monitor online communications.

It is believed that the Canadian program is used to monitor metadata both domestically and internationally. That means the CSEC could look at information such as email paths, senders and recipients, IP addresses and phone connections — data that could help identify potential criminal networks or potential terrorist groups. But actual messages exchanged between individuals in those networks would be off limits unless a warrant was obtained. (Source: CTV News)

Thursday March 1, 2007

March 1, 2007 by Graeme MacKay

March 1, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 1, 2007

Terror vote fails as Dion reins in Liberals

Two controversial measures in the federal Anti-Terrorism Act will disappear from the law books after a vote last night in the House of Commons that marked the first major political test for Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.

In a vote of 159 to 124, the combined opposition defeated a Conservative minority government motion that would have renewed the extraordinary legal powers of authorities to detain and interrogate terrorism suspects.

The Liberal caucus was deeply divided on the issue as recently as last week. But by the time of last night’s vote, only one Liberal — Tom Wappell — abandoned Mr. Dion and voted with the Conservatives.

Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler abstained, and a dozen other Liberals were absent, some for health reasons.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Mr. Dion had to force his caucus into line, thus putting internal party politics ahead of national security.

Mr. Harper said the failure of the renewal motion is not the end of the matter, suggesting the government might introduce fresh legislation.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said “the government will get to work … to protect Canadians” by fashioning new tools to combat terrorism. He did not specify what the government intends to do.

Mr. Day once again hammered Mr. Dion for “this very distressing flip-flop.” The New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois have long opposed the renewal. But the Liberals took most of the political heat from the Conservatives.

Sensing an opportunity to drive a wedge between Mr. Dion and some of his caucus members, Mr. Harper last week called the Liberal Leader “soft on terrorism.”

The Prime Minister’s tone did not change Tuesday. He said Mr. Dion “denigrates the police in this country.” The Liberal Leader, meanwhile, said he was taking a principled stand in defence of human rights. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Commentary