Canada risks being the target of more terrorist attacks and reprisals for its positions on the Middle East because the Harper government is doing little to try to prevent young Canadian Muslims from becoming radicalized, says MP Maria Mourani.

Mourani, who was joined by NDP Leader Tom Mulcair Wednesday evening when she was acclaimed as the New Democratic Party’s candidate in the Montreal riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, says Canada’s military mission in Iraq is being used in propaganda that jihadists are putting online to try to recruit disillusioned young people – many of whom are being discriminated against in Canada because of their ethnic backgrounds.

“You don’t go to war and you live on a cloud and don’t think there will be reprisals,” said Mourani, whose family originated in Lebanon.

“I am very worried because there is nothing that is being done,” she added.

Mourani, a criminologist by profession, said officials in her riding were successful in curbing the rise of street gangs by working with young people, parents and schools on prevention.

However, the federal government isn’t doing very much to prevent radicalization. Instead, it is focusing on security and punishment – an approach that won’t work, she said.

On the ground, those who are working with young Muslims say Canada’s military mission in Iraq “isn’t helping.” Earlier this week, the Canadian armed forces revealed that Canadian troops had been involved in a firefight with ISIS members.

Unlike street gangs, it is harder to pinpoint those who risk turning to terrorism, Mourani said.

“As we speak, there are young people who are becoming radicalized. We don’t know them. They are not even on file with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or the RCMP. They are in their basements in the process of radicalizing themselves. We don’t know when it is going to go off in their heads and they will give themselves a mission to do something.”

Mourani said the government has to address factors such as poverty, unemployment and discrimination that leave young people, like the North African youth in her riding, disillusioned.

Mourani said constituents from Africa and North Africa have complained for some time that they were being discriminated against because their names appeared to be Muslim. The attack on Parliament Hill and the assault on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo have increased that discrimination, she said.

Mourani said there are pockets of poverty in her north-end Montreal riding and issues like affordable housing, employment and security that risk being big issues in the upcoming election.

Elected in 2006 as a Bloc Québécois MP, Mourani split with the sovereignist party over the controversial charter of Quebec values proposed by former PQ premier Pauline Marois’ government. In November, she announced she was joining the NDP but would continue to sit as an independent because of the NDP’s policy on floor crossing.

Mourani said the riding has always been a close race but with work she believes she can win it again under the NDP banner.