Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Conservative MP Wai Young Makes U-Turn On 1985 Air India Bombing Remarks

The Canadian Press, 15 Jul, 2015 11:47 AM
    OTTAWA — A Conservative MP is backtracking on her claim that Canada's spy agency knew there was a bomb on an Air India plane that exploded in flight three decades ago, killing 329 people.
     
    In a late June speech at a Vancouver church, Tory MP Wai Young said the laws at the time prevented the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from telling the RCMP about the explosive device.
     
    Young told the service at Harvest City Church that, as a result, the Mounties could not remove the bomb from Air India Flight 182 before it left Canada in June 1985. The plane blew apart off the coast of Ireland, claiming the lives of scores of Canadians.
     
    She said the government's recently enacted Bill C-51 remedied the problem by allowing greater information-sharing between agencies.
     
    Asked Tuesday if she stood by her remarks, Young at first sidestepped the question, saying the government passed the bill because the threat of jihadi terrorism is real.
     
     
    "That is why this legislation is so important and necessary. I will continue to work with our government to ensure that Canadian communities are strengthened and protected."
     
    But little more than a half-hour later, Young issued a statement saying she "misspoke with regards to the investigation of the Air India bombing" in her speech at the church service.
     
    Young says she regrets the error.
     
    A federal commission of inquiry into the Air India tragedy did not conclude in its June 2010 report that CSIS knew there was a bomb on the plane.
     
    Rather, it said government agencies had significant pieces of information that, taken together, would have led a competent analyst to conclude that Flight 182 was at high risk of being bombed by known Sikh terrorists in June 1985.
     
     
    Young presented a different version of events to churchgoers.
     
    "CSIS knew, or heard, that there was a bomb on board this plane," Young said, adding that "strict laws" prevented agencies from sharing information at the time.
     
    "I don't know if you guys know that. Because they couldn't share that information with the RCMP, the RCMP could not act to take that bomb off that plane," Young said.
     
    The office of Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney referred inquiries to Young.
     
    In her June 30 speech, first reported by the leftist Press Progress blog, Young said the Conservatives were working "in the same vein" as Jesus by ushering in Bill C-51 and other criminal justice legislation. Jesus "served and acted to always do the right thing, not the most popular thing," she said.
     
     
    Her comments unleashed a whirlwind of mockery on Twitter.
     
    In the speech, Young also said she had stopped reading newspapers because "most of the facts in there are not factual."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Ukrainian PM To Visit Canada This Week For Economic Talks Amid Financial Turmoil

    Ukrainian PM To Visit Canada This Week For Economic Talks Amid Financial Turmoil
    Arseniy Yatsenyuk was to arrive Tuesday for talks that will focus on the eastern European country's attempts at economic and government reform.

    Ukrainian PM To Visit Canada This Week For Economic Talks Amid Financial Turmoil

    Surrey Shooting: Deadly Gunfire Ends Violent Dispute As One Killed In East Newton Neighbourhood

    Surrey Shooting: Deadly Gunfire Ends Violent Dispute As One Killed In East Newton Neighbourhood
    Mounties have released few details about the incident in the East Newton neighbourhood (on 64th Avenue) not far from the Serpentine River.

    Surrey Shooting: Deadly Gunfire Ends Violent Dispute As One Killed In East Newton Neighbourhood

    B.C. Wildfire Official Calls For Vigilance Despite Arrival Of Wet Weather

    B.C. Wildfire Official Calls For Vigilance Despite Arrival Of Wet Weather
    On Monday, 52 Australian firefighters are scheduled to arrive into B.C. to help with fire relief efforts, while another contingent of Down Under personnel will soon show up to assist in other Western Canadian provinces.

    B.C. Wildfire Official Calls For Vigilance Despite Arrival Of Wet Weather

    RCMP Dive Team Searches For Missing Man After Vancouver Island Boating Incident On Sproat Lake

    RCMP Dive Team Searches For Missing Man After Vancouver Island Boating Incident On Sproat Lake
    Port Alberni RCMP say they launched their police craft around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in response to reports of an on-the-water incident on Sproat Lake (in the Alberni Valley).

    RCMP Dive Team Searches For Missing Man After Vancouver Island Boating Incident On Sproat Lake

    Good News! Crews Contain 30 Per Cent Of A B.C. Wildfire

    Good News! Crews Contain 30 Per Cent Of A B.C. Wildfire
    VANCOUVER — Good news in the ongoing battle to contain an aggressive, 70-square-kilometre blaze raging in the Cariboo Region of Central British Columbia.

    Good News! Crews Contain 30 Per Cent Of A B.C. Wildfire

    Feds Look To Family Benefit Cheques, Infrastructure Spending To Boost Economy

    OTTAWA — All but overlooked in the past week of troubling economic news was federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver's unexpected nod to government stimulus spending.

    Feds Look To Family Benefit Cheques, Infrastructure Spending To Boost Economy