Canada to spend $690 million in security initiatives

Canada to spend $690 million in security initiatives    Canada will spend $690 million on new initiatives to protect its borders and ports, using money already set aside in a security reserve, said Anne McLellan, Canada’s deputy prime minister.
   Part of the funding will go for intelligence, including a new integrated threat assessment center.
   Canada’s augmented security agenda will include improvements to marine and border security, and passports with biometric information. The federal government will also upgrade systems to collect and analyze fingerprints, and create a national cyber-security framework to handle threats to the Internet. A national security advisory council and a collaborative forum between federal and provincial governments to deal with emergencies will also be established.
   Those measures will comprise Canada’s first comprehensive threat assessment plan, said Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.