Over 100 new concrete bollards have been installed around the New Brunswick legislature to improve security.
Legislature Speaker Chris Collins says the 123 concrete posts will prevent vehicles from driving onto the legislature lawn.
Collins says the new measure will help protect visitors, MLAs, staff, media and protestors.
“We’ve had national security organizations come in and do a threat and risk assessment and this is one of the recommendations we’ve had,” Collins said.
He says there were several other recommendations that have already been implemented over the past two years, but those measures cannot be disclosed for security reasons. Collins says security at the New Brunswick legislature has “drastically increased” since the shootings at parliament in 2014.
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“It’s been a priority for many years, but the events of two years ago tomorrow certainly made these issues much more immediate,” Collins said.
Collins says the bollards will cost between $300,000 and $400,000.
“We have more to do, but every time we implement something like this, I sleep much better at night,” Collins said.
He says that as the Speaker it’s his “moral obligation” to ensure the legislature is a safe place for everyone.
University of New Brunswick Gregg Centre Senior Fellow Dr. David Charters says the bollards are a good thing and says it would have been “irresponsible” to wait until there was a security incident to install them.
“It’s one of those things. You’ll never know if it was a worth-while investment until something happens,” Charters said.
Collins says he wanted to be proactive and act before anything could happen. He says there have been security issues in several surrounding provinces — including a pipe bomb on Prince Edward Island.
“New Brunswick is not immune to situations that require additional security, and we only have to look at recent events that have happened in Moncton to understand that we need to protect our visitors to the legislature and our staff from obvious threats,” Collins said.
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University of Waterloo and Balsillie School of International Affairs Associate Professor of Political Science Veronica Kitchens says while the bollards serve a purpose — it’s a narrow one.
“They can’t prevent an active shooter from getting out of a vehicle and approaching the legislature. They can’t prevent someone from detonating a truck bomb outside the legislature. They can’t prevent somebody from driving a truck through a crowd of people on Canada day, similar to what happened in Nice this summer,” Kitchen said.
She says that when it comes to terrorism it’s important to take other security measures, such as working with police forces in order to identify possible threats.
Kitchen says it’s crucial to know how to evacuate people quickly so that emergency services can get into an area quickly in the event of a terrorist attack.
Collins says conversations have already taken place with the local police forces and says there’s no issue in terms of communication.
Collins says the concrete posts will eventually be covered with cast-iron sleeves so they look more aesthetically pleasing.
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