| Canada will be forced to fall in line
By James Travers
/ The Toronto Star
Ottawa - IN THE GRIM aftermath of the deadly, unprecedented
attacks on New York and Washington, Canada's critical international
relationship will be tested and it will be changed. From North
American defence to the free flow of commerce and people across the
undefended border, nothing will be as it has been.
What must change first is Canada's reputation as a soft touch and
staging point for those determined to bring their bloody disputes to
this continent. Unless this country quickly demonstrates that it is
a secure as well as a good neighbour, the 49th parallel will slam
shut, jeopardizing the $1 billion in trade that flows south every
day.
John Kirton, a respected University of Toronto political
scientist, is right when he says that suspicion of foreigners will
shape U.S. policy in the coming months. Inevitably, that distrust
will again raise troubling questions about a porous northern border
and Canada's proud history of welcoming the world.
That is what happened in the first weeks of the new millennium
after Ahmed Ressam tried to smuggle a car loaded with explosives
across the border from British Columbia. And, as U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell promised Wednesday, it will happen again now that
it is known that at least some of those responsible for this week's
horrors slipped into the U.S. from Canada.
Canada now has no choice but to be an eager partner in what
Kirton predicts will be "a massive program to protect America."
Ottawa's goodwill will be demonstrated by speedy passage of a new
immigration act that only months ago was labeled draconian. And it
will be demonstrated in suddenly enthusiastic support for
controversial legislation that would strip charitable status from
ethnic groups raising funds here for offshore violence.
But that won't be nearly enough for either the U.S. or police and
security forces here that are frustrated by this country's long
history of failure to intercept or remove even those with criminal
records.
They point to Mahmoud Mohammed Issa Mohammed - a Palestinian who
remains in Canada 13 years after it became public that he was
involved in a fatal hijacking in Greece - as proof the system puts
soft sensibilities between justice and security threats.
Along with untold lives, the U.S. attacks blow away legitimate
Canadian concerns that harmonization of immigration laws and border
procedures will erode sovereignty. Those fears have been rendered
nearly irrelevant by an ugly new reality.
Canada, a country that has made a virtue of its innocence,
suddenly finds itself in a cowardly world where the unthinkable is
possible.
Top security officials here say privately that any group that
could successfully bring down the World Trade Center and strike the
Pentagon is also capable of executing a biological or even limited
nuclear attack. They argue that democracies with exposed
infrastructures can respond only by tightening their borders and
closing their fists.
It would be reassuring if the world's guiding lights could extend
their response to addressing some of the injustice that spawns blind
hatred and the lunatic, unforgivable fanaticism that this week
shattered so many lives. But that will have to wait while the walls
of Fortress North America are reinforced.
That work will begin at the G-8 group of leading industrial
countries where proselytizing for globalization will give way to the
new priority of security.
The U.S., as it has made abundantly clear, will judge its friends
by their willingness to join an uncertain struggle that will be
long, dangerous and expensive.
For Canada, joining will include muting much of its
understandable opposition to the Son-of-Star Wars missile defence
shield.
While the events of this week strengthen the argument that
missiles in space offer no defence to low-tech terrorism, raw fear
gives unstoppable momentum to even suspect plans promising
protection from rogue groups or states.
How well Canada reacts to this new order remains to be seen. So
far, Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien has stood by the U.S. by safely
landing flights here at the height of the crisis and by offering the
condolences and logistical support expected of a friend.
But to satisfy the U.S., a federal government that prefers to
skirt controversial issues will have to make some tough choices. It
will have to choose between the expectations of a neighbour that is
also the last superpower and cherished Canadian values.
Chr�tien need not ride roughshod over the rights of refugees or
uproot Canada's tradition as a middle power opposed to nuclear
proliferation. But the health of the Canadian economy and the
belligerent U.S. mood demand that he reassure Washington that it has
nothing to fear when it looks north.
James Travers is a national affairs writer for the Toronto Star
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