Tough on terror

RCMP, CSIS and CBSA to benefit most

talk backed up with hundreds of millions in new spending.

OTTAWA — The government is buttressing its war-on-terror talk with hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending on national security measures.

About $439 million was announced in Tuesday’s federal budget for counter-terrorism investigations and increased security for Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court of Canada and the interconnected critical infrastructure that forms the nation’s economic and societal backbone.

“The jihadist terrorists who proclaimed a so-called caliphate in the Middle East have declared war on Canada and Canadians by name. In response, we have taken up the fight both overseas and here at home,” Finance Minister Joe Oliver told the House of Commons.

The lion’s share of new funding — $293 million over five years — is to go to the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

No breakdown was available, but the RCMP in particular has been straining under the investigative demands triggered by a rise in domestic recruiting of “foreign fighters” and the need to track potential threats at home from dozens of so-called highrisk and lone-actor extremists.

The RCMP also is investing in counter-radicalization programs to stop youths from being pulled into ISIL’s orbit by the Islamic terror outfit’s online propaganda machine.

The flow of new money, however, will be slow and measured, with just $18 million to be added this year.

Escalating annual tranches are to hit $92 million in 2019-20.

The draft security bill, C-51, with its sweeping new powers for security agencies and law enforcement, will mean additional operational requirements, too.

For the first time in its 31-year history, CSIS will be authorized to actively disrupt suspected threats to national security and those measures will require additional resources.

To allay fears of possible abuse, the $2.7-million annual budget of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the CSIS watchdog better known as SIRC, will receive an additional $12.5 million over five years, with $2.5 million every year thereafter.

The move responds to SIRC’s concerns of being underfunded in the face of a new, more dynamic CSIS by effectively more than doubling the watchdog’s average annual funding to $5.2 million.

There is no new money, however, for its sister agency, the Office of Communications Security Establishment Commissioner.

It reviews the activities of Canada’s other spy agency, the CSE, which is responsible for collecting foreign signals intelligence and government cyber protection.

The 12-person watchdog office, operating on a $2-million annual budget, expressed some concern recently about keeping pace with the bustling, evolving and expanding electronic spy service.

But Oliver held out little hope of additional funding for the CSE commissioner’s office, as well as the offices of the federal privacy and information commissioners.

“We have taken up the fight (against terrorists) both overseas and... at home.

JOE OLIVER FINANCE MINISTER