You were elected ... we trust you.

With all the to-ing and fro-ing (ins-and-outs as it were – nudge, nudge, wink, wink) of l’affaire Bernier-Couillard, one key point has to be made. All those MPs who are screaming that a security check on Mlle Couillard should have been done, are conveniently overlooking the fact that none of their own spouses or significant others was ever subject to a security check.

According to CTV News, the ONLY check done on elected members of parliament (including Cabinet Ministers) is a police background check. That means they’re checked out only to determine if they have a criminal record or are facing financial difficulties that may be compromising. That’s it. Neither they nor any members of their families are investigated by the RCMP or CSIS as is the normal practice for any senior civil servants.

So there it is. The people who have access to, and in fact produce, some of the most sensitive secrets this country has, are not security vetted.

This is not new - it's always been that way - but perhaps it's time our elected representatives are held to the same standard as those they manage. Or those they would criticize.

Blame Canada

Here we go again. As reported in today’s Ottawa Citizen, Homeland Security’s Michael Chertoff has singled out Canada as a source of terrorists attempting to infiltrate the US. According to the article, “’much more than a dozen’ individuals with links to al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and other extremist groups have been caught trying to enter the U.S. since 9/11.”

As usual, no specifics are offered. Is this just one more attempt by the U.S. administration to effectively shut the northern border through the deployment of ever more onerous documentation and security requirements? Or is there a real problem?

The fact that this is coincident with a sea-change in the political atmosphere in the U.S. and the Bush administration’s inability to get Congress to force through the passport requirements for land and sea crossings into the U.S. just may have something to do with the latest pronouncement.

With these guys in charge, it’s getting so we wouldn’t know the truth if it hit us upside the head.