A sad day of note in Canadian political history, as Parliament Hill was under gunfire today. A soldier was also shot at the nearby War Memorial.
Putting the day’s events into perspective though, are Canadians less safe today because of our political leader’s choice to take us to war in Iraq against ISIS? Possibly. That threat shouldn’t mean a single change to our daily lives though, since we don’t alter our behaviour to avoid the much more deadly threat of being killed by a home-grown drunk driver.
I’m collecting reports as this unfolds, because it will be interesting to see who got what wrong.
“Credible sources tell @SunNewsNetwork there may be as many as five active shooters in #Ottawa sunnewsnetwork .ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/10/20141022-100348.html ”
https://twitter.com/rapidweblaunch/status/524945300252008450
https://twitter.com/Frank_Mag/status/524929480532299779
https://twitter.com/laura_payton/status/524946823446671360
https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/524946004265959424
ADDED:
https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/524948710812581888
https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/524948719175999489
Hear, hear!
If I was still in Ottawa, I’d be on the Hill tomorrow, inviting others to watch the partial solar eclipse through my camera.
ADDED II:
ADDED III:
https://twitter.com/robyndoolittle/status/524978549565169664
ADDED 1:25pm SK time (MDT)
https://twitter.com/saskboy/status/525004527489921025
A body is seen 2 minutes later:
ADDED:
https://twitter.com/JacobBirch8/status/525003762058788864
ADDED: https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/525017500061536258
https://twitter.com/saskboy/status/525017573688365056
ADDED:
ADDED
—
“There were false reports of a third shooting scene at the Rideau Centre, and a fourth, at the Chateau Laurier. Police were scanning the rooftops looking for a shooter at large. […]
It is too early to say for sure, but it seems likely that this was the work of one disturbed individual, someone swayed by the dark propaganda of extremists on the other side of the world.”
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff 
What I want to know is how long Canadian soldiers have been serving Target Duty at the war memorial. Harper, MacKay, Baird et al never pass up the chance to warn Canadians that terrorists are afoot among us and then they leave perfect, stationary targets for them at the war memorial.
Given the attack the day before, it wasn’t so smart to leave a soldier there without bullets for his gun. Hindsight hurts.
Wikipedia of the Memorial notes the duty started last decade after 2006 Canada Day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_War_Memorial_(Canada)
When I’m reminded of how it was decided that the Memorial needed a guard at all, I get a little angrier.
How the shooting took place inside. http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/politics/ottawa-shooting-the-face-to-face-encounter-that-ended-the-attack-on-parliament-1.2812802
Sun, of course, was terrifically wrong; inflating the number of gunmen by at least four.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-attack-mps-fashioned-spears-while-harper-hid-in-closet/article21278580/
MPs made spears and prepared for attack, as someone hid the PM in a closet. I wonder what he though about as he hid in there?
Worth noting too that the guy who climbed out of the sewer (literally), interviewed on TV while still wearing his hard hat, and said he saw someone he thought was involved with a scarf scrawled in Arabic, was mistaken.
The shooter was a mentally ill man who’d asked a judge to lock him up. The judge declined the request, basically.
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/ottawa-shooter-tried-to-rob-vancouver-mcdonald-s-with-stick-1.2068636
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/10/26/never-let-the-facts-get-in-the-way-of-a-good-cronkite-moment/ Ivison and Mansbridge take one in the teeth.
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