Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that he wants to make 鈥渃rystal clear鈥� that 鈥淐anada does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly.鈥�
The prime minister also told reporters in Alberta that media reports suggesting he and senior ministers were involved in negotiating with Abu Sayyaf, the terror group that killed Canadian hostage John Ridsdel in the Philippines Monday, are 鈥渨rong and they are false.鈥�
The reports followed comments made on CTV鈥檚 Power Play Monday by Bob Rae, a friend of Ridsdel鈥檚 who was involved in efforts to try to get him back.
Rae, the former interim Liberal Party leader, said that 鈥渞ight up to the Prime Minister of Canada, every senior Canadian minister and public official has been involved on a regular basis in assessing how to deal with this crisis and the decisions that have been made have been very difficult ones.鈥�
Rae also told Power Play that, 鈥渙bviously there was talk of money involved, not by the Government of Canada or the Government of Norway, but certainly by the families.鈥�
Trudeau also told reporters at the news conference in Kananaskis, Alta., that he had received a phone call from British Prime Minister David Cameron. He said Cameron expressed his condolences to the Canadian people upon hearing of the death of Ridsdel, who also held British citizenship.
Trudeau said they discussed their common position that they will not pay ransom to terrorists, and 鈥渁greed that it is something we are going to make sure we do bring up with our friends and allies around the world.鈥�
He offered two reasons for the policy. 鈥淔irst, obviously this is a significant source of funds for terrorists organizations that then allow them to perpetrate deadly acts of violence against innocents around the world,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut more importantly,鈥� he added, 鈥減aying ransom for Canadians would endanger the lives of every single one of the millions of Canadians who live, work and travel around the globe every single year.鈥�
Former special forces commander Steve Day told CTV鈥檚 Power Play Tuesday that the prime minister鈥檚 policy of 鈥渘ot negotiating with terrorist entities and extremist organizations鈥� is the right one.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not to say there shouldn鈥檛 be lines of communications open,鈥� Day added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just to say we can鈥檛 be in the spot where we鈥檙e paying any amount of Canadian dollars to fund these extremist elements.鈥�
Day also expressed skepticism at suggestions Canada should send soldiers to rescue the hostages, calling such an operation 鈥渁 PhD-level tactical problem鈥� and adding that 鈥渃apacity challenges鈥� in the military would make it difficult.
Security expert Larry Busch said that Canadians should not expect to see any Canadian special forces or RCMP on the ground in the jungle as part of a rescue effort, but that they may be assisting the Philippines in planning such an operation.
鈥淚 think the Philippine government is quite capable of carrying this out,鈥� he said.
Busch explained that a rescue operation would be risky because hostages 鈥減rovide a certain amount of human shield capacity鈥� and the terrorists 鈥渒now the terrain, probably have lookouts, may have ambushes and probably have booby traps set up.鈥�
Ridsdel, whose severed head was found Monday, was kidnapped along with Canadian Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino Marites Flor from an upscale resort complex by Abu Sayyaf militants in September.
On April 15, a video emerged of Ridsdel and Hall asking the Canadian government to pay their ransom by 3 p.m. Monday, or they would be beheaded. The captors were demanding about CAD $8 million per hostage.
The Associated Press has reported on documents that suggest a ransom of about $1 million was paid to al Qaeda for the release of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler in 2009.
Earlier this month, an Italian hostage was freed by Abu Sayyaf. A local newspaper that a $640,000 ransom was paid.
There have also been allegations that France has paid ransoms to get its citizens back, which French President Francois Hollande
With a report from 麻豆影视 Senior Political Correspondent Glen McGregor
