Canada Unprepared for Terrorism, Lawmakers Say

Canada is not ready to respond to a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction, according to a study released yesterday by a Canadian Senate committee (see GSN, March 24).

The report by the Standing Committee on National Security and Defense concludes that a biological attack on the country would be devastating. While vaccines exist for such pathogens as anthrax, plague and smallpox, Canada only has an emergency plan for managing a smallpox outbreak, the report states (see GSN, Nov. 18, 2003).

“Canada has a history of muddling though” man-made or natural disasters, the senators said.  “In a world that has become much more unpredictable,” they added, “muddling through is not enough” (John Ward, Canadian Press/Yahoo!News, March 31).

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