When Stephen Harper faces his rivals in a key foreign policy debate Monday night, he鈥檒l confront new revelations about the safety of Canadian embassies abroad.
麻豆影视 has learned many of Canada鈥檚 diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa are not safe 鈥� putting the lives of diplomats and staff at risk.
A memo prepared for a recent deputy ministers鈥� meeting says security threats are on the rise, and 鈥�20 per cent of missions are now categorized as high risk.鈥�
The document, dated Sept. 9 and marked secret, says security needs to be more robust in critical threat locations such as Afghanistan, Iraq and South Sudan.
It warns the Foreign Affairs budget is 鈥渋nsufficient to 鈥eet the complex security requirements.鈥�
Paul Dewar, the NDP鈥檚 foreign affairs critic, said the government should be providing more security.
鈥淲hen you have people who are abroad who are in these high-risk zones, they need security and they need to know that their government is going to listen to them and actually provide security,鈥� Dewar told 麻豆影视.
The Liberals blame Conservative penny-pinching for the gap. The government has been selling off properties such as the High Commission in London, and keeping foreign affairs spending under budget.
鈥淲e do know that the government has been holding back money because it wanted to be able to tell Canadians that it had balanced its budget,鈥� said Liberal MP Marc Garneau. 鈥淚 sure hope it isn鈥檛 for that, because the safety of Canadian diplomatic staff abroad is not something you play around with.鈥�
The secret memo acknowledges that Canada has invested heavily in updating security at high-risk missions, but it says: 鈥淢uch remains to be done to bring security to a satisfactory level globally.鈥�
Defence Minister Jason Kenney told 麻豆影视 that Ottawa is hardening embassy security, but there鈥檚 only so much money available.
鈥淭he Americans are around the world, spending tens of billions of dollars to build new embassies outside the capitals,鈥� Kenney said. 鈥淲e do not have those kinds of resources.鈥�
Foreign Affairs has drafted a new security investment plan for Canadian embassies. The department is still awaiting the Harper cabinet鈥檚 approval.
With a report by CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
