Medicine Hat MP to grill Liberal ministers over Toronto terror suspects

Motz, who represents the riding of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner, is a long-standing member of the committee and will ask questions in-person.

“Canadians must be able to trust their government to protect our national security by not allowing those who would be a risk to Canada to enter our country,” Motz said in a statement Monday.

“The Liberal coverups need to stop, but unfortunately, I believe there are more to come. These Liberals will stop at nothing to avoid accountability.”

Public safety minister Dominic Leblanc says federal departments are reviewing how two men with suspected links to a terrorist group abroad were allowed into Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Monday that federal departments are reviewing how the two men with suspected links to a terrorist group abroad were allowed into Canada.

The father and son suspects were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., last week and face nine different terrorism charges, including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Most charges relate to activities allegedly occurring in Canada, but the elder Eldidi is also charged with one count of aggravated assault outside Canada.

LeBlanc says the Public Safety and Immigration Departments, which work together to screen applicants looking to move to Canada, are working to establish a timeline of events regarding the accused men.

“When you have a circumstance like this, the Department of Immigration and the Public Safety Department will obviously review, as I said, all of the circumstances, particularly the chronology and the timeline of when certain pieces of information may have been available,” LeBlanc said.

The RCMP has confirmed that the father is a Canadian citizen, while the son is not. A spokesperson said Wednesday that the police force is waiting for confirmation on the status of Mostafa Eldidi.

Conservatives are demanding that the federal government tell Canadians what they know about how the elder Eldidi was allowed to immigrate to the country, suggesting that the alleged links should have been uncovered sooner.

“Canadians have a right to know what went wrong,” Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer said in a recent news conference.

“How did this individual gain entry into Canada and obtain Canadian citizenship? Canadians also have a right to know if … there’s anyone else in Canada with similar backgrounds who were granted entry into our country.”

LeBlanc said the government will have more to say about the chronology of events, but warned it would be irresponsible to put out information that could interfere with the criminal investigation and the prosecution’s ability to conduct a successful trial.

NDP MP Alistair MacGregor supported the Conservative effort to call the emergency meeting by sending a letter to the chair.

MacGregor wrote that there are “serious questions” about how the elder suspect was able to enter Canada, become a citizen and “remain undetected for many years.”

— with files from the Canadian Press

by Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat MP to grill Liberal ministers over Toronto terror suspects

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