Protests Mount Against Bill C-51
Bill C-51 opponent Mike Dallaire addresses crowd on 7th Avenue Saturday afternoon. Photo 250 News
Prince George, B.C. – Protest rallies voicing opposition against the Harper government’s contentious Bill C-51 were the order of the day across Canada on Saturday.
In Prince George, protesters raised placards as motorists passed by on the bypass, while others gather outside the 7th Avenue office of Prince George-Peace River Conservative MP Bob Zimmer. The MP did not attend.
Mike Dallaire of Prince George addressed the crowd as a petition, which is being forwarded to Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, was circulated for signatures of those opposing the bill, which some critics say threatens to trample, if not destroy some of the democratic rights of Canadians.
Dallaire says the issue is so critical that no matter who you normally support or which party you might belong to, if they are not opposed to this bill you cannot support them in the coming federal election. “You know how we can be so team adamant, well this isn’t one of those times we need to be supporting our team members. If they’re not supporting you, this is a time when we need to wake them up and remind them who they represent.”
The federal government calls B C-51 an anti-terror bill, but some in the crowd outside Zimmer’s office said it’s really an anti-rights bill which threatens the freedom of Canadians. They feel the bill, as is, has to be opposed at the grassroots level, because, as one said, “it won’t be opposed by the politicians or through the media.”
Opponents feel the legislation issue is so critical that it should go to a referendum and should be an election issue. One also wondered aloud how many of the recent rash of incidents in Canada which have been labelled acts of terrorism may have been staged to stoke the fire under Harper’s legislation.
Four former Prime Ministers, 5 Supreme Court judges, the BC and Canadian Civil Liberties Association and scores of legal experts have all voiced opposition to Bill C-51. The B.C. Federation of Labour held a major rally against the legislation in Vancouver on Saturday.
Comments
It just makes you want to hide in your home. What is happening to our beautiful country?
Exactly IBear, that’s what Harper wants.. Us to scared to think so he can do whatever he wants. So frightened we won’t leave our houses. Even though more people in Canada are killed by moose in a year than any terrorism activities.
Its so terrible the news says that HUNDREDS showed up in protest in Toronto. Quite an uprising.
Like the HST, lots of “former” politicians against things which turns out would have been beneficial to us in the long haul. Who would a thunk?
The article on the HUNDREDS that turned out in Toronto, also stated that they were mostly Union, or NDP.
The Protest at Zimmers office looks like a balloon that went Phssssst.
It seems that during an election year, the Liberals and NDP’rs want to be our guardians.
Bill C-51 after committee and debate will be passed with a few changes, and then it will be up to the Canadian Voters to decide if they want to support the Government who brought in the bill, or kick them out. If they kick them out, then the incoming Government can make some changes.
Don’t forget that a few years ago we took away the RCMP’s powers and created CSIS, so we can also do what ever the hell we want with CSIS, as long as our Politicians have the political will.
To suggest that we are heading down a road to a facist state is going a little overboard.
Most people sat on their asses over the past 20 years and let all levels of Governments take away their freedoms. Where were our saviours like
the BC and Canadian Civil Liberties in years gone by. Seems they only get involved in issues that gives them good media coverage.
I think that issues like this are being used to denigrate the Government in power, and generate votes for other parties in the coming election.
Any bill still has to eventually stand the test of the courts regardless
PVal, moose never really kill anyone they are just innocent bystanders, and not likely to cut your head off unlike Greyhound passengers. Nonetheless we can’t even hold those people accountable. Can we watch people returning from serving with terror groups abroad? More than likely. But can we do anything about them? Not until they shoot someone in the back.
“Those that would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin
This bill is for cowards, Harper the closet PM chief among them.
Slinky
C51 will not stop crazy people from killing people on Greyhound buses, and the drug addict “ISIS” militant never served abroad, so C51 would not have stopped him either. You are willing to give up all your rights to be safe. Why not just give up now and go live in a prison? There you will be safe and get your 3 squares a day. You are halfway there, as you too are on the “Sissy Conservatives for Steven” bandwagon, hoping that he will take care of you from all the bogeyman out there.
And Pval is correct, you stand a higher risk from a moose collision, than you do from terrorists.
So Turkey gets upset they are taking all the blame for the isis fighters using their country as a transit point, so they turn up a foreign agent working for Canada’s CSIS. The isis/CSIS agent that was responsible for smuggling the three British girls into Syria as brides to isis leadership.
Turns out this guy (Mohammed Mehmet Rashid) has been facilitating and documenting the flow of foreign fighters into and out of Syria, and that his handler was an Israeli/Canadian duel citizen working out of the Amman Jordanian Embassy for Canada. An embassy that had its staff hand picked by Harper himself.
Asked why CSIS had an agent smuggling foreign fighters for isis into Syria and Iraq and Canada’s Public Safety Minister, Steven Blaney, told The Toronto Star: “We are aware of these reports. We do not comment on operational matters of national security.”
This is the danger of a bill C-51 type of police state enabling legislation. We have guys that have no qualms about smuggling in the daughters of British citizens to be sold off as a prize to the most evil people on earth, and these guys will be the ones in control of surveillance enabled by this legislation that will have no oversight.
Furthermore as seen in this latest example of western intelligence complicity in the operations of isis, we have a problem of moral rot brought on by our deep connection to and intelligence sharing with Israel… We have a foreign country imbedded into our own government, running operations our of our embassy as a cover for their crimes, and not only using Canadian passports for operations of assassination as was documented by the National a few years back, but going further having duel citizen agents operating within our own government on partisan Israeli issues operating as Canadians (but for a foreign government). With Bill C-51 these people can operate with little in their way whether they operate for Canada, a foreign government, or powerful private interests… Bill C-51 is an enabling act for treason at the highest levels and all but removed from the light of accountability to the Canadian public.
Its good to see people of this great country are starting to wake up and protest the coming police state Harper is setting up to protect his hidden army of traitors.
herbie, relax and hop in your VW and grab a valium. The point being our laws need a makeover, when someone can cut a person’s head off and a few years later be out on the streets I say what we have is definitely not working. C51 is about sharing of intelligence, let the courts decide of it is constitutional or not. The SS is not coming for you.
And no, moose don’t kill people, people run into them and kill themselves. If you lived on Vancouver Island or Salt Spring you couldn’t even do that.
Check your source eagle – he did not work for CSIS, he was more than likely an informant. He is not a Canadian citizen or dual citizen but a Syrian. He did not work in the embassy, who’s blog are you reading?
Slinky I didn’t say he was Canadian. He is an operative ‘working’ for CSIS. Correct that Rashid is a Syrian national.
Routers was reporting his full story yesterday about how he made contact with the Canadian, US, and French embassies, and how he became an operative for CSIS. His handler being a guy named Jacob that is a duel nationality working in the Canadian embassy. The Jordanian embassy of course being staffed by people personally picked by Harper being that it is the embassy that most deals with Israeli related issues and Harper being a Netanyahu side kick.
For Israeli agents in Syria it makes sense for Israel to run their Arab operatives out of a Canadian embassy.
My worry is not the Syrian agent, but rather his handlers in CSIS. Obviously if they are working with this Rashid character (on the promise of Canadian citizenship), and this Rashid character is neck deep in human trafficking for isis… then clearly these CSIS agents aren’t all pearly white innocent deserving of no oversight with the constitution breaking powers they are intrusted with under C-51… furthermore if we have duel citizens with loyalties beyond Canada working among the ranks of our CSIS.. and in all likelihood calling the shots in that part of the world.
Why do the conservatives so insist on having these powers without due process under the checks and ballence of a constitutional rule of law?
Slinky
No one has proved that the increased powers of C51 are needed. The laws as they stand are entirely sufficient, except that Harper cannot herd his fearful geriatric sheep constituents with the status quo. So he ups the fear quotient to send his core into a frenzy and marshalls them into a pen of their own choosing. Being Conservatives, that means they are as quick to relinquish their rights as a two bit hooker drops her drawers.
You cannot seem to grasp the idea of relative risk, which is how Harper likes it. Like it or not, society is at greater danger from Moose collision, than Jihadis. We do not not radically transform our society to avoid moose collision, and we should not for Jihadis either. If you are terrified, then the terrorists have won. Count yourself as terrified if you support C51
When you have a few thousand people out protesting a bill, and have 30 Million or more staying home, you have to ask some questions.
Are the few thousand the brilliant ones in the Country with all the answers, and the 30 Million stupid,. Or is it the other way around???
There are good and bad points to this bill, and they will be sorted out over time. Canadians are quite able to see that the correct checks and balances are in place, and will use the courts to ensure that their freedoms are looked after.
The real problem here is that this is a political initiative by those in opposition to the Government hiding under the issue of freedom.
We need only to look at those opposed to this bill, to see that they have been opposed to the Government since day one. So we need to take anything that they say with a grain of salt.
This issue will be settled by the end of the month, and then we will see what happens.
According to some we will all be in jail.
No one has said that Harper plans to put everyone in jail. Just the courageous ones that don’t like where his vision of Canada is taking us. If you are pro Northern Gateway, like the way he is flooding our country with TFW’s, like his aim to build more prisons and put more Canadians in them, like his demonization of Muslims, then you are safe.
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