Charlie Hebdo Paris Shooting: Canadian politicians react

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair led politicians across Canada in condemning today’s attacks at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo.

In his statement, Harper called the shootings a terrorist attack. Prompted by a reporter during a press conference called to react to the shootings, Mulcair agreed that the available facts fit with the definition of terrorism.

Mulcair said it was important for him to come to Ottawa’s National Press Theatre to “show solidarity with journalists and all those who defend freedom of speech around the world.”

New Democrats stand with the world in condemning this senseless violence, he said.

Mulcair, with many members of his wife’s family living in and around Paris, said he had spoken to her about the attacks earlier and their “solidarity with the French people is unshakable.”

“Everybody in the world who treasures values like freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly understands importance of standing up to this,” he said.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau reacted on Twitter on Wednesday morning, condemning the “horrific attacks,” and expressing his condolences and support “to the people of France, the victims, and their families.”

Liberal foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau told CBC News the attacks were the work of “an extremist group that doesn’t tolerate the rights and freedoms that we cherish so much in a democracy, and for this very reason we have to push back very hard.