Tory FB post asking public support for Bill C-51 upsets Alberta PC MLA

Alberta Progress Conservative MLA Thomas Lukaszuk expressed his outrage at a post on the Conservative Party Facebook page made to drum up support for the Harper government’s anti-terrorism bill that shows a man wearing an Arab headdress threatening a terrorist attack against the West Endmonton Mall.

“If just a handful of Mujahedeen fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week, then imagine… if such an attack was to occur in… the West Edmonton Mall in Canada,” the post screams in all caps.

“Jihadi terrorists are threatening Canada – we need to give our police and security forces the tools they need to protect us from the threat of terrorism. Add your name if you agree,” the accompanying text reads with a link to a petition in support of Bill C-51.

“This troubles me on so many different levels…,” the Former Alberta Deputy Premier Lukaszuk tweeted.

“The international jihadist movement has declared war on Canada,” reads the petition on the
Conservative Party website. “ We are being targeted because jihadi terrorists hate our society and the values it represents. Jihadi terrorism is not a human right; it is an act of war.”

Lukaszuk is the latest in line of prominent individuals including former Prime Ministers, legal experts, academics, civil liberties activists, and First Nations chiefs to condemn Harper government’s fear mongering tactics to pass a bill that they view as giving “extraordinary powers” to the authorities to curtail the rights and freedoms of Canadians and silence dissent in the name of fighting terrorism.