Canada's Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney speaks during Question Period
Canada's Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa May 6, 2014. Reuters

Despite Canada facing terrorist threats, it has been wasting millions of dollars earmarked for boosting security at Canadian diplomatic missions worldwide. The money allocated was simply not spent. This is said to be the fallout of the Conservative government's enthusiasm to chop vital programmes and personnel make up the country's deficit.

This fact has been revealed in an investigation conducted by CBC News, which noted that the Foreign Affairs ministry having failed to spend half of the $129 million budgeted for "strengthening security at missions abroad" in 2013-14, and left $69 million unspent. About $43 million was lying unspent in 2012-13, and $36 million remained unspent in 2011-12. All these were happening when Canada was closing some of its key missions abroad, because of security threats to the diplomatic staff.

Backdoor Cutting

Ms Helen Laverdiere, deputy foreign affairs critic of NDP, said the "government has been doing cuts through the backdoor with the security envelope for our missions abroad." However, an official spokesman for Foreign Affairs ministry still claimed that the government has allocated more than $650 million since 2007 for strengthening the security of missions and that spending is always flexible. The security programme "allowed the department the flexibility to adapt to the changing nature of security needs as and when needed," spokesman John Babcock added.

The accumulating shortfall in capital spending in security at embassies, high commissions and consulates led to an urgent meeting recently. It was called by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird who urged his staff, soon after the Oct. 22 shooting attack on Parliament Hill, to review the cases of held up spending.

The brazen Ottawa attack was a wakeup call and Mr.Baird raised the issue of unspent amounts in security money and asked the staff to expedite a risk-assessment programme in the wake of the growing threats. In 2012, Canada shut down its embassy in Tehran less than a year after the British Embassy was attacked in the Iranian capital. Last year, the Canadian missions Bangladesh and Cairo were also shut briefly, because of threats.

The shortfalls in spending were published in the Public Accounts Report recently. It again confirmed the case of lapsed funds in other departments too, showing a total of $7 billion as savings. This extra money served well for the Conservative government in paying down the deficit quickly, and give it as a sop of 2.5-billion tax break for some families by way of income splitting.

Rising Threats

Retired diplomat Jeremy Kinsman said the world has become a more dangerous place and Canada's diplomats need protection. "It is a management issue and there should not be lapsing of money that has been authorised because a convincing case is needed for the safety of Canadians abroad," Kinsman said in an interview. By targeting diplomats, the terrorists are trying to spread not only panic but also warning Canada against military involvements as in the campaign against ISIS, noted a report in The Star.