By Peter Ewart

More and more Canadians just don’t believe the federal government’s claims about Bill C-51, the controversial anti-terror legislation. This has been demonstrated by the hundreds of rallies and meetings across the country, and the numerous public statements of opposition from law associations, constitutional law experts, civil liberties groups, First Nations, unions, community organizations, business leaders, newspaper editors, media pundits, academics, former prime ministers and Supreme Court justices, and many others.

A number of petitions have been launched across the country with OpenMedia’s “StopC51.ca” gathering over 213,000 signatures so far, making it one of the largest petitions in Canadian history to oppose federal government legislation (1). For its part, the organization Canadian Journalists for Free Expression has denounced the Bill as “irresponsible, dangerous, and ineffective,” and argues that as Canadians learn more about the Bill their opposition will only continue to grow (2).

The widespread opposition is also reflected in the polls which now show that the majority of Canadians do not agree with this anti-democratic legislation. The Parliamentary hearings were themselves controversial with the Conservative majority on the Committee refusing to allow various experts to speak, including the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and using rude and insulting language towards a number of the presenters. Despite that, many of the presenters strongly criticized the legislation on the basis that it threatens the fundamental rights of Canadians, and almost all argued that the Bill was flawed in one way or another.

Nonetheless, the Bill was passed in Parliament on May 6^th by a vote of 183 to 96, with Conservative and Liberal MPs voting in favour and NDP, Greens, Bloc Quebecois and several independents opposed. The Bill has now moved on to the Senate where hearings will be held for the next several weeks before a final vote.

Despite winning the parliamentary vote, it is clear that the ruling Conservatives have been damaged by this controversy in that some of its core supporters are extremely concerned about Bill C-51 and even some outright opposed. Not a few of these hearken back to the old days of the Reform Party and its support for democratic reform and small government. Yet today, what kind of creature are they left with? The Conservative Party is leading the charge against the democratic rights of Canadians and has become a rabid promoter of big government powers.

For the many Canadians who are not members of the Conservative Party, Bill C-51 has served to remind them just how hyper-partisan, vindictive and dictatorial the Harper government has become during its term of office.

But the Conservatives are not the only party to take a hit for ramming through Bill C-51. The Liberal Party of Canada has also been seriously damaged. Party leader Justin Trudeau has raised criticisms of the Bill but ultimately voted for it, claiming that it will be revised later if his party win the next election. For this opportunistic stand, the Liberals have been roundly criticized from all quarters.

Not a few analysts believe that the Liberals missed a golden opportunity to oppose Bill C-51, especially because it allows members of CSIS to break the law and violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (which was brought in by Pierre Eliot Trudeau when he was Liberal Party leader decades ago and is considered by some to be his crowning achievement in terms of constitutional reform). Justin Trudeau could have led the charge, they say, but instead has been left behind eating the dust of the NDP and Greens.

The extent to which the Liberal Party has been divided over Bill C-51 is illustrated by the recent news that, according to Senate opposition leader James Cowan, most Liberal-appointed senators in the Conservative-dominated Senate will likely vote against the legislation. According to Cowan, Bill C-51 lacks oversight and tramples “on people’s rights to privacy, to freedom of association, and freedom of speech.” He questions whether it is necessary to allow CSIS to break Canadian law (3).

Irrespective of the votes in Parliament, opponents of Bill C-51 are pledging to continue organizing opposition. OpenMedia’s David Christopher says that “The [Harper] government and the Liberals may think today marks the end of this matter, but passing this reckless legislation will be an albatross around their neck moving into the [federal] election.” In that regard, another national day of action against Bill C-51 has been announced for May 30^th.

Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca

(1) OpenMedia. https://stopc51.ca/petition

(2) Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. Open letter on Bil C-51. https://cjfe.org/stopc51

(3) Dickson, Janice. iPolitics. May 12, 2015.