The chance of a terrible coordinated attack by terrorists seems much less likely in Canada than it is in France — but it is certainly not impossible. The linked CBC story has some thoughts on this but the most critical element in such a mass killing surely must be the number of those who take part in the plan. That is what made the Paris attack so lethal. But it is also the thing which might make it possible for authorities to learn about it in advance. The more people involved in the conspiracy, the more likely someone will tell the police, the more likely it will be broken up.
WILL SOMEONE TELL?
Authorities have to hope that the composition of the population in Canada is such that it is more difficult to gather eight or ten young men into such a scheme without word leaking out. But if such a group could be formed, and if it could gain access to automatic weapons and explosives (another point where the cops can find out) then it is fairly easy to see how a number of “soft targets” could be identified in one of Canada’s big cities. No matter what our sensitivities, it seems so important that intelligence agents like the RCMP and CSIS stay close to radical elements and sources of such possible outrages. It seems quite clear that the French government was in the dark about what was happening as this group put together its evil plan. CBC
