Dear editor:
My heart was saddened and my fears heightened, when I realized that with his majority government, Stephen Harper had whipped his cowed and broken MPs into passing Bill C-51.
Sadly, the Liberal support of this bill, offering the pitiable excuse that if they should be elected, they would “change†the legislation, was even more unsettling.
In a recent discussion, a friend remarked, “Oh, Canadians don’t need to worry, because our Charter of Rights and Freedoms supersedes C-51.â€
Regrettably, that is not true.
This legislation allows CSIS to obtain a warrant, granted at a secret meeting, permitting them to break the law and contravene the Charter Rights of Canadians.
Even more alarming, these expanded powers of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) come with no increase in oversight or review measures.
This heinous piece of legislation will, in fact, eliminate our privacy to a large degree.
Canada’s top security experts warn us that Bill C-51 will undermine our democratic rights.
Although this deplorable legislation has been passed, I am an optimist, and still remain hopeful that all Canadians will come together and work to abolish it, and help reinstate our privacy rights and our democratic freedom.
Libby Thornton, Aldergrove
