Comments at Disaster Management Conference in Toronto

"I don't believe that Canadians are as psychologically prepared for a terrorist attack as probably we all should be," Ms. McLellan said. "I think we have, perhaps for too long, thought that these are things that happen somewhere else."

But Canada is "not immune from what we've seen happen in London, Madrid and 9/11." ........

Despite such fears, federal and provincial ministers hadn't sat down to discuss wide-scale emergency planning for more than a decade, until earlier this year.

"Don't you think that's rather shocking?" Ms. McLellan said in a speech to the conference yesterday. "I was stunned by that........."

If Canada were attacked by a blizzard of paperwork, we'd excel. When it comes to security there is a lot to be desired.Canadians need less talk and more action.

From our excellent Auditor- General...........

On emergency preparedness, funds were not allocated based on an assessment of risks. Equipment purchased for first responders in different cities was not required to be interoperable, thus missing an opportunity to create a national pool of compatible equipment. Training for first responders is progressing very slowly—fewer than 200 of the needed 6,000 intermediate-level first responders have been trained.