David Christopher is with Open Media and says all Canadians will find themselves under the microscope, losing their privacy — and he wants Ottawa to draft legislation using a more targeted approach.
“It’s a really reckless piece of legislation because we’d actually have a secret police force operating in Canada with very extreme powers but with actually very little oversight,” says Christopher.
However – not unexpectedly – Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer firmly disagrees with that view.
“[It’s] an anti-terrorist bill, and that’s the preamble of the bill itself, it’s to really tackle and get to the guys that are not just talking about terrorism but are terrorist cells in Canada,” explains MP Zimmer. “Because right now, the authorities don’t have the authority that they need to tackle these cells in Canada.”
“This is what this bill is going to do.”
MP Zimmer says this bill also addresses concerns of Canada’s justice system being too lenient, something critics also say is over emphasized.
“Some of the judicial accountability is lacking in Canada,” MP Zimmer goes on to say. “We have laws on the books that are suppose to be enforced by the justice system and they just simply are not.”
He says this speak to the Conservative party’s ongoing tough on crime initiatives – such as minimal sentencing.
“It gives less room for judges to wiggle out of tough judgment but they still manage to find a way.”
If Bill C-51 is passed through the Commons next month, it’s expected to make its way to the Senate quickly, and could be put into place as early as June.
