Goodale says ‘no rationale’ for changing current threat level

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said there is “no rationale” for changing the country’s current threat level following the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Goodale said during a press conference in Ottawa Wednesday that the RCMP, CSIS and the Canadian Border Services Agency are being extra vigilant and everything possible is being done to keep Canadians safe.

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The minister said Canada’s threat level for a terrorist attack is at medium and has been unchanged since last October, when it was upgraded from low just a few days before the attacks in Quebec last year that killed Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.

“We are being extra vigilant as we monitor the situation in Paris and elsewhere very closely,” Goodale told reporters. “I would urge Canadians to be alert in the wake of these very troubling circumstances.”

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson says the RCMP is working with other security forces around the world in monitoring threats and that there is no specific threat to Canada.

Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service Michel Coulombe says CSIS is looking for Canadian connections to the attacks in Paris.

Security experts have said the voice on an ISIS released audio recording in English and Arabic that claimed responsibility for the co-ordinated Paris attacks Friday that claimed at least 129 lives could be Canadian.

READ MORE: PM Trudeau condemns acts of ‘hatred and racism’ aimed at Canadians

Goodale also took a moment to condemn several alleged hate crimes in Ontario and in Quebec.

“We need to reject and condemn acts of perverted vigilante retribution the hateful abusive intolerance that has marred several Canadian communities these past few days,” said Goodale. “Now more than ever is the time to support our fellow citizens.”

The statement was an apparent reference to the torching of an Ontario mosque, an assault against a veiled woman in Toronto and the arrest of a Montreal resident who threatened to ‘kill one Arab a week’ in a YouTube video.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians not to turn to “acts of hatred and racism” in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks.

“Diversity is Canada’s strength. These vicious and senseless acts of intolerance have no place in our country and run absolutely contrary to Canadian values of pluralism and acceptance,” he said in a statement.