On being a cynic

It is no fun being a cynic - in fact it is, on occasion, bloody hard work and more than a little tiresome. It would be so much easier if I could just take what people said at face value - but I can't. I seem to be somehow compelled to look at information with just a grain of salt. Although there are times when a box full of the stuff can't get the bad taste from my mouth. Take for example the announcement yesterday that the RCMP had just arrested two terrorists (with ties to the Al Qaeda in Iran) who were planning to blow up a passenger train. On the surface that is great news; it really is. To arrest two international terrorist who were intent upon killing people and disrupting travel is something for which the police services should be congratulated for.  But at the very least one has to wonder at the timing of the arrest.

The investigation of the suspects and their plot to blow up a Via Rail train had been going on for months. According the CBC, amongst other news outlets, CSIS and the RCMP  have followed the two suspects everywhere including overseas. Furthermore there may be other suspects still out there who were not arrested. So why were these two individual arrested now? There does not appear to be any indications that the threat was imminent. We were not a risk and surely one should wait until all of the suspects can be rounded up and charged at the same time.  So what was the rush?

It could be a coincidence that at the same time as the announcement was made about the arrest there was a debate in Ottawa about the government's anti- terrorism bill. The proposed anti- terrorism bill is a draconian piece of legislation that, according the Huffington Post would deprived Canadians of some basic rights including the right to not give incriminating evidence to the police when being questioned. As well people can be arrested and held for three days on the suspicion of being involved in terrorist activities. I am not too sure if there is any reason to believe that such additional police powers are required.   But it is going to be pretty hard to argue against such a piece of legislation when terrorists appear to be banging on our doors.

The debate itself was a bit of a surprise. For at least four months the anti- terrorism bill had been languishing somewhere in the bowels of parliament or wherever such pieces of legislation go when the government has lost interest in them. When the government announced last Friday that the bill was back on the table, everyone including me assumed that the government was trying to avoid the scheduled debate about whether or not parliamentarians should have more independence. But perhaps the Prime Minister knew that the arrest were going to be made on Monday or perhaps even more sinister, someone in the PM's office suggested to the police that now would be a good time to make an arrest. Regardless of how it happened it is hard to believe that it is a coincidence.

It should be noted that according to the CBC I am not the only person who has such cynical thoughts.

We should also be aware that the government has suggested that those environmental activist who wish to protest against government policies can be considered terrorists. And will all of those Idle No More protesters who may be active this summer also be labelled as terrorists?

Beware Canada!!