Posted on 06/09/2006 1:12:42 PM PDT by eagle001
TTAWA (Reuters) - Canada\\\'s government and main opposition party united on Friday to condemn \\\"completely uninformed and ignorant remarks\\\" by a U.S. member of Congress who said Canada was a breeding ground for terrorists.
Last week police in and around Toronto arrested 17 Muslim men, five of whom are under the age of 18. Several of them are charged with plotting bombings in major Canadian cities and training militants.
John Hostettler, chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee on immigration and border security, said on Thursday that Canada \\\"hosts an abundance of terrorists and as many as 50 terrorist organizations\\\".
Bill Graham, head of Canada\\\'s main opposition Liberal party, asked in Parliament what the government was doing to \\\"stand up to these unjustified and abusive attacks on Canada, making sure that the American media and the politicians understand and speak the truth?\\\"
Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, described Hostettler as misinformed and called on him to withdraw the comments.
\\\"I join with the leader of the opposition in repudiating those completely uninformed and ignorant remarks that we heard yesterday,\\\" he replied.
Hostettler also lashed out at \\\"South Toronto\\\", which he said was \\\"the type of enclave that allows for this radical type of discussion to go on\\\".
Toronto is Canada\\\'s largest city, but there is no area known as \\\"South Toronto\\\". Crimes rates in the southern part of the city -- which lies on the north shore of Lake Ontario -- are relatively low.Hostettler\\\'s comments alarmed Canadian politicians, who are trying to persuade U.S. lawmakers to delay a law that would require all Canadian citizens crossing into the United States to carry a passport or a sophisticated identity card.
Canadian and U.S. communities along the border fear the rules -- due to come into effect on January 1, 2008 -- could damage a lucrative cross-border trade.
Hostettler said he opposed the idea of a delay, saying: \\\"We do not want to have to worry about a neighbor that has a very different attitude than we do about terrorism\\\".
Since the suicide attacks of September 11, 2001, U.S. critics have frequently accused Canada of not doing enough to crack down on militant groups -- a charge Ottawa denies.
\\\"What is important is that ... there are many members of the U.S. Congress who understand and appreciate the strong actions of the Canadian security forces to maintain continental security,\\\" Kenney told Parliament.
Harper is due to meet President Bush on July 6 in Washington and the topic of cross-border security is bound to be on the agenda.
Kenney later told CBC television that Hostettler\\\'s comments were \\\"completely way off base and I would like to see some kind of retraction for some of the more ignorant remarks we heard\\\".
\\\"Cry me a river, Canada.\\\"
Look out!
//// ///// /////// ////
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Native born Canadians became terrorists.
Sounds like a breeding ground for terrorists.
Not that Lackawanna, Portland, Seattle, Florida, New Jersey and Virginia aren't also breeding grounds for terrorists.
Verily, what place that muslims breed have not become breeding grounds for terrorists? Any of them?
Not slashes but backslashes!
\\\"Canada's big head in the sand...\\\"
No it is cry me a river from the opposition party.
Bill Graham is a liberal mouth piece. Most sane people of Canada would like to duct tape this guys mouth shut!
Squeaky wheel gets the grease, but in this case, this squeaky wheel need a five knuckle sandwich.
They can get mad if they want, or be in denial, but the comments are obviously correct since the 17 terrorists were homegrown in canada.
\\\\\\\\\\\ <---See? They all lean to the left.
(What they do?) (They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place.
The backslashes (Backslashes)
Canada seems more interested in promoting gay marriage than in dealing with terrorism.
Canada does need to do more to deal with terrorists and radicals in their midst but they ARE an ally, they have been consistant in Afghanistan, I worked up their for a while and I used to go to church with a fellow who had been injured in the first Iraq war.
They did just elect conservatives to power also (a feat some felt would be decades off). We should avoid putting them in a spot of having to decide between their own patriotism and defending against what would obviously be an offensive remark to their own constituents.
But the liberal leader can go suck rocks for all I care.
Oh yeah? Well the Oilers suck too. So there!!!
Don't liberal mouth pieces speak for all Canadians? At least in their own minds they do. We have our fair share of morons here too.
These are not "unjustified and abusive attacks" on Canada. Rather, what is going on here is that, as usual, Canadian leftists believe that they can capitalize on Canadian distrust of Americans to fool the Canadian electorate into placing them back into power...
/~\~/~\~/~\
Welcome to Free Republic
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.