The CBC had an exclusive interview with Steven Harper recently where he claimed that 'Islamicism' [sic] is still the largest terrorist threat to Canada. This statement was made in support of re-establishing controversial anti-terrorism legislation originally implemented in 2001 and later scrapped by the Liberals in 2007.

According to the CBC, the legislation has two main clauses which are the subject of controversy:

• The police may arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them for three days if they suspect terrorist activity.
• Judges may compel witnesses to testify about past or present activities or associations with a penalty of jail time for non-compliance.

The CBC also added that these two clauses have never been used. The fact that these clauses have never been used stands in contrast to the interview, where Steven stated:

We think those measures are necessary. We think they've been useful, and as you know … they're applied rarely, but there are times where they're needed.

So today's questions are:

• Is something still useful if it is never used?
• Does 'applied rarely' carry the same meaning as 'never used'?
• Can we not find a better term than 'Islamicism'?