Grits OK security policy
Measures expected to cost $500 million
Robert Fife
CanWest News Service
Thursday, April 22, 2004
The Liberal government will approve a new national security policy today that commits $500 million to close significant gaps in Canada's intelligence and security apparatus, senior officials say.
The security policy, shepherded by Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan, will be presented to cabinet today and unveiled next week. It will promise improvements to maritime security, passport control and Ottawa's fingerprinting program, officials say.
"It will outline an overall framework in terms of national security and how to maintain and improve security. It will outline a number of new initiatives, building upon initiatives that have been taken (since September 2001)," a senior official said Wednesday.
Insiders hope the policy announcement will be interpreted as a goodwill gesture to the security-conscious President George W. Bush, whom Prime Minister Paul Martin meets in Washington on April 30.
The new security plan is also seen as an important vote-getter for the Liberals as Martin prepares to call a June election with a new public opinion survey released Wednesday that shows a majority of Canadians want Ottawa to bolster spending on fighting terrorism and building up national defence.
Officials say the Martin government's security policy will address major deficiencies in inter-agency co-operation recently identified by Auditor General Sheila Fraser, such as out-of-date terrorist watch lists, backlogs in missing passports and chronic delays in the dissemination of crucial information.
A pillar of the new national security policy involves counter-terrorism and increased funding to the government's fingerprint-recognition system so that it can effectively handle and root out suspected terrorists and criminals during security clearances, visa applications and refugee claims, insiders say.
The auditor general concluded in a scathing report to Parliament last month that Canada's high-tech "LiveScan" digital fingerprint identification system -- which cost $38.6 million -- has been rendered virtually useless because the RCMP lacks the technology to process the information electronically.
Official say the government will provide the funds for the proper technology to allow the RCMP to digitally process fingerprints to decrease the growing backlog and to swiftly handle new requests for fingerprint analysis.
Transport Canada will also get access to the RCMP database.
The $500 million is part of a $605-million security contingency reserve for the next five years, of which $115 million will be spent this fiscal year to bolster the country's national security establishment, including improvements to maritime security. Details on expenditures of the initiatives will be released next week.
The navy and coast guard will get funds to improve their communications and interoperability between various agencies and to allow more frequent maritime surveillance operations.
Money will also be directed to the new Canadian Border Services Agency -- which encompasses customs and border security -- for new customs installations and security defences at existing border crossings.
Officials say McLellan is also determined to establish an integrated national security assessment centre that will feed intelligence information to the prime minister's new national security director, Robert Wright.
canada.com
steve |
