Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people I represent in the riding of Malpeque I too express sadness and condolences to the families who have had people killed or injured, to those who must work in very difficult circumstances and to those who are feeling stress as a result of these terrible acts.
There is no question that those who planned and worked to commit these acts of violence must be condemned and brought to justice one way or another. I support very strongly the resolution that the House:
--reaffirm its commitment to the humane values of free and democratic society and its determination to bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack on these values and to defend civilization from any future terrorist attacks.
Many members and many commentators have spoken of how the world changed on September 11. Yes, that is true; our world has changed. However, and I do not say this to in any way lessen the impact of the violence on September 11, terrorism has been increasingly prevalent on the global scene for a number of years. The calls for action are because this attack was closer to home. This, in all honesty, is what is focusing the world's attention on finding solutions to terrorism. Yes, the world has indeed changed, but terrorism is not new. It is merely closer to home.
As with any change, we can change for the better or for the worse. We must do much more than declare war on the perpetrators and “root them out”. Yes, we must do that but we must do much more. We must also find the root causes of terrorism and find some cures.
As a first step I agree with the position the Canadian government and NATO have taken. They have responded with a declaration that an attack on one represents an attack on all. That attack must be dealt with and dealt with aggressively. However we must go further.
The Prime Minister in his remarks today said that this will be a long struggle with no easy solutions and that we should be guided by what works in the long run, not by what makes us feel good.
What will it take to work in the long run? The former foreign affairs minister, Lloyd Axworthy, best summed up what we are dealing with today in an article in the Globe and Mail . I quote from that article in which he said:
Security threats today come less from military forces and increasingly from the international criminal, drug trafficker, political extremist, small arms vendor, warlord, or petty tyrant. These people are adept at using the modern tools of organization and intelligence gathering and know how to exploit global communications technology. They are well funded, often with superior resources to the enforcement agencies they confront. They are skilled at the techniques of infiltration and sabotage. And, they prey upon ordinary people. They are the underworld, the dark side of our global system.
The former minister of foreign affairs summed it up quite correctly in terms of what we are dealing with. We should understand that just one strike will not rid us of the problem. We must be much more intelligent than that. We will need to spend more resources than that. We will need to look at our own borders and look globally to get to the bottom of the problem. Beyond that, as I said earlier, we must find cures for the causes of terrorism.
The former minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Axworthy, made three points which I will put on the record. First, existing defences do not work. Military might as great as that of the United States did not prevent this attack. Second, all countries are in this together. This was demonstrated by NATO's pledge of support. Third, there must be closer co-operation and work within the community of nations to fight terrorism.
I agree with all these points. The government has long recognized that we must work toward developing new frameworks of international agreements. This is not just an American problem, a Canadian problem or a British problem. It is international. We must work together to define more clearly the responsibilities of governments and individuals on issues such as harbouring suspected terrorists and financing their activities.
On the question of new legislation, if that were the answer how could we explain the fact that the United States already has anti-terrorist legislation which quite obviously did not work? The answer in Canada is not necessarily legislation. It is dealing with terrorism before it gets here. It is dealing with the root causes.
As to the last point, Canada is a multi-ethnic and tolerant country. We welcome people from around the world. We will not build a wall around ourselves. The key to fighting terrorism is to attack both those who carry it out and those who support people who believe they can find a political solution through violence.
That is where we must move. We must work internationally. Yes, we must deal aggressively in the first instance, but we must also work internationally through intelligence, better security and trying to find cures for the causes of terrorism around the world.