OTTAWA — Members of the House national security committee are cutting their summer vacations short this week to potentially discuss how an alleged ISIS member — one of two men accused in a thwarted Toronto terror plot — managed to enter the country and become a Canadian citizen.
But even with the NDP backing the Conservatives’ call for an investigation, the meetings hinge on cooperation from all opposition parties.
Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his 26-year-old son Mostafa Eldidi were arrested last week in a Richmond Hill hotel room for what the RCMP allege was a plot to carry out a violent terror attack in Toronto.
The pair face nine charges, including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf or at the behest of a terror organization.
Global News reported last week the latter charge is related to the elder Eldidi’s participation in a 2015 ISIS torture video featuring an abductee being dismembered by a sword.
At a press conference last week, Conservative MPs Andrew Scheer and Luc Berthold put out a call to opposition parties to support recalling the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) committee to investigate the issue.
“Evidence exists that the father was involved in a horrific torture attack in an ISIS video,” Scheer told reporters last Tuesday.
“Shortly after the events in that video, this individual was admitted into Canada, and later was granted citizenship by the Trudeau government.”
According to a notice of meeting published over the weekend, SECU will meet from 10 a.m. until noon on Tuesday in Ottawa.
Officials have so far remain tight-lipped on the security breakdowns that allowed the pair to enter Canada.
During a Monday press conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ducked direct questions about the case, but said the government is taking the situation seriously, and that Justice Minister Arif Virani would have more to say.
“Canadians need to have confidence in our immigration system, and on the millions of people who’ve come here over the years to build a better life for themselves and their future,” Trudeau said.
So far, only the NDP have joined the Tories in expressing support for investigating the matter — and without the support of the Bloc Québécois they lack the majority votes needed to offset the Liberals.
Wednesday’s meeting, Conservative committee member Frank Caputo told the Toronto Sun, will largely be procedural and will set the stage as to what future meetings will discuss.
“In terms of it being a fait accompli of a meeting actually happening and this study happening, it will all come down to the votes,” he said.
“We know that the Liberals don’t like transparency, they don’t want transparency, so my suspicion is that they will vote against this, even though that vote is contrary to the interests of Canada, but who knows — hopefully they’ll look at what’s in the public interest and vote for it.”
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