PM vows vigilance without panic as Parliament resumes following Ottawa shootings

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OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – People across the country no doubt have Ottawa on their minds today, one day after a gunman attacked Parliament Hill and killed a soldier at the National War Memorial.

MPs have come back together in the House of Commons and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spoken, vowing our country will be prudent, but will not be thrown into a panic.

Harper’s speech was frequently met with rousing applause from both sides of the House, as he encouraged everyone in the room to take time to relax and care for their health.

The PM thanked all Canadians and other world leaders for their good wishes and words of support.

And while those thank-yous had a positive and uplifting tone — even a little humour at times — Harper also acknowledged the sadness of having lost reservist Nathan Cirillo, who was shot at the National War Memorial yesterday and Patrice Vincent, who died after being run down in a parking lot in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec on Monday.

He also acknowledged the service of those in the armed forces.

“There are people who every day of our lives, stand on guard for this country and for all of us, and we obviously want to convey our gratitude to these two servicemen and their families, but also to all the people that undertake this extremely dangerous work,” Harper said.

He added, “We’re all aware and deeply troubled that both of this week’s terrorist attacks were carried out by Canadian citizens, by young men born and raised in this peaceful country. I share this concern and wonder what weakness could lead someone to reject a nationality that so many people throughout so many countries want for their children.”

Harper also spoke about our country’s response.

“For now, make no mistake. Even as the brave men and women of our armed forces are taking this fight to the terrorists on our own territory, we are equally resolved to fight it here. “We live in dangerous times, yes, but the mission of our country and the work of this Parliament goes on, and so does the work throughout this city.”

He’s promising work to strengthen laws and police powers to do with surveillance, detention and arrest will be expedited.

Harper finished by shaking the hands of an emotional Kevin Vickers, the Sergeant-at-Arms who shot the gunman, and shaking the hands of and hugging the Liberal, NDP and Green Party leaders.

Our Parliament Hill reporter, Cormac MacSweeney was in Parliament when a gunman killed Cirillo, injured a security guard, and made his way into the walls of Parliament.

“Obviously, this has never happened before, so there’s a lot of shock, a lot of people unnerved on Parliament Hill as a result of everything that happened. I’ve been working non-stop since this happened; I didn’t get home until about midnight and was up again to work the morning shows to try and make sure that everyone got the information that they needed to know with regards to this horrific event. So, a lot of it hasn’t really sunk in for me yet.”

He says there are also a lot of questions that need to be answered about security on Parliament Hill.

“As much as they’re showing this sign of strength right now, we know that security on the Hill won’t be the same moving forward and there will be a lot of changes. I know right now, we should be using a different entrance to enter Parliament Hill, not the one that we would normally use, and that is because the entrance we normally use is the scene of the crime from what happened yesterday.”

MacSweeney says there are police cruisers and RCMP officers surrounding the Hill.

“I spoke to a couple of members of Parliament yesterday and they said that they were really shocked and unnerved by everything and they know that it’s going to be tough to return to work. I did bump into a couple of Liberal MPs today who basically told me they need to get back to work, they need to show that Parliament won’t be deterred by such acts of terror and democracy will continue in Canada regardless of what has happened yesterday.”

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