Canada's ruling Conservatives will table legislation in the fall to tighten controls on anti-terrorist funding, officials said on Saturday, a week after 17 al Qaeda inspired suspects were arrested.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty takes on the presidency this month of the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that combats money-laundering, and Canada faces a health check of its domestic anti-terror laws in late 2007.
"We'll be moving forward ... and making sure we have our Canadian legislation in line this year, with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force," Flaherty told reporters after a meeting of G8 finance ministers in St. Petersburg, Russia. A bill is likely to be presented to parliament in the fall that aims to improve on existing legislation, ministry officials said.
The government initiative is a logical follow-up to a process of consultations and a "white paper" on anti-terrorist financing and money-laundering the government presented in 2005, the officials said.