Canada's NDP

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June 24th, 2015

Report reveals Conservatives misled Canadians :

New Democrats are dismayed by reports that the sweeping new information sharing measures enacted by the Conservatives through C-51, now the Anti-terrorism Act of 2015, were not, in fact, requested by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

“New Democrats opposed this bill right from the start because it was clear that these powers were unprecedented, excessive and lacked oversight,” said NDP Public Safety critic Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Juan De Fuca). “Now we learn that the Conservatives weren’t truthful when they told Canadians that these laws were necessary. In fact, internally, CSIS was saying they could work within existing legislation.”

Contrary to Conservative claims, a recent report obtained under the Access to Information Act reveals the gutting of privacy protections under Bill C-51 was uncalled for. The Conservatives’ new legislation removes safeguards that ensured information about law-abiding Canadians was not referred to security and intelligence agencies without good reason. Federal Privacy Commissioner, Daniel Therrien, denounced the changes as “clearly excessive.”

“While the Liberals serenely supported the reckless Conservative legislation, Canadians can count on Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats to fix the damage done by Stephen Harper,” said Garrison.