‘A colossal failure’: Conservatives call for hearings into how terror suspects came to Canada

By Rachel Aiello

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    OTTAWA (CTV Network) — The federal Conservatives say Canadians deserve answers about the immigration and security screening processes undertaken for a father and son the RCMP recently charged in connection to an alleged foiled Toronto terror plot.

Stating that Canadians “have a right to know what went wrong,” Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer called on the Bloc Quebecois and NDP to support his party’s push to recall the Commons’ public safety committee for emergency hearings into the “disturbing and shocking” situation.

“This is a colossal failure of Trudeau’s national security system,” Scheer said in Ottawa on Tuesday, questioning how men “with connections to terrorist organizations” were able to enter Canada and receive citizenship.

On July 28, the RCMP arrested Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and Mostafa Eldidi, 26, in Richmond Hill, Ont. The two — whom police said they understood to be Canadian citizens — were “in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack in Toronto.”

The pair are facing a series of terrorism-related charges, including conspiracy to commit murder for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with the Islamic State.

While most of the charges stem from alleged activities undertaken in this country, the father was also charged with committing an aggravated assault outside of Canada in June 2015 for the benefit of the terror group.

Citing unnamed sources, Global News reported last week that the father immigrated to Canada after allegedly being filmed taking part in ISIS violence overseas, and that his son does not hold Canadian citizenship. CTV News has not independently verified this reporting.

Scheer said he had not seen the video, but said it was unacceptable that the elder Eldidi was able to secure Canadian citizenship despite his alleged previous ties to ISIS.

Both men made a brief court appearance last week, where they denied the charges but pleas were not entered. They are expected back in court on Wednesday.

“For Canadians to have confidence in our immigration system, we need to know that in every case, in every application, the due diligence and proper screening is done. Clearly that was not done in this situation,” Scheer said. “And lives were almost lost.”

In the Conservatives’ view, despite the active criminal investigation, it would be “totally appropriate” for federal agencies to reveal details of how these individuals gained entry into Canada, whether there may be others at large with links to terrorist organizations and what’s being done to prevent a similar situation from unfolding again.

The party has also written directly to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc demanding the release of further details surrounding the pair’s foiled terrorism plot.

The Conservatives’ leader in the Commons said LeBlanc would be the first witness they would like to see called to testify, followed by national security officials and those who oversee citizenship applications.

Scheer didn’t say if his party had engaged in any behind-the-scenes conversations with the Bloc or NDP about their potential support in this push before going public on Parliament Hill, citing the two parties’ summertime track record of rejecting other Conservative proposals for emergency committee hearings as the motivation for Tuesday’s move.

CTV News has reached out to LeBlanc’s office, as well as the Bloc and NDP for comment.

With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman

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