- Dec 5, 2010
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Prime minister says Conservatives will bring back controversial anti-terrorism laws
In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the biggest security threat to Canada a decade after 9/11 is Islamic terrorism.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that will air in its entirety on The National Thursday night, Harper says Canada is safer than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., but that "the major threat is still Islamicism."
Harper cautioned that terrorist threats can "come out of the blue" from a different source, such as the recent Norway attacks, where a lone gunman who hated Muslims killed 77 people.
But Harper said terrorism by Islamic radicals is still the top threat, though a "diffuse" one.
"When people think of Islamic terrorism, they think of Afghanistan, or maybe they think of someone in the Middle East, but the truth is that threat exists all over the world," he said, citing domestic terrorism in Nigeria.
The prime minister said home-grown Islamic radicals in Canada are "also something that we keep an eye on."
Tories to resurrect controversial anti-terrorism laws
Harper said his government will bring back anti-terrorism clauses that were brought in in 2001 but were sunset in 2007 amid heated political debate.
"We think those measures are necessary. We think they've been useful," he said. "And as you know … they're applied rarely, but there are times where they're needed."
Harper says Islamicism biggest threat to Canada - Canada - CBC News
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