To the editor:
The federal government’s Bill-C51 [anti-terrorism bill] is dangerous, reckless and ineffective.
Reckless, because it turns CSIS into a near secret police force with very little accountability or oversight.
Ineffective, because it will lead to catch-all surveillance and information sharing on innocent Canadians because it permits violation of the freedom of rights now enshrined in out Charter rights (even Stephen Harper has admitted this is ineffective).
Dangerous, because your sensitive, private information could be examined and handed over to 17 government agencies without your knowledge; it could even be handed over to foreign governments.
This is the bill the government is trying to ram through in record time to avoid scrutiny by the people of Canada.
Do your part. Write to your newspapers, your MP, even to Stephen Harper himself. Tell everyone to speak out against this bill, otherwise we will be saddled with it and take a large step forward to an autocratic state.
Do we really want a shadow, unaccountable police force with the power to utterly ignore our innocents’ freedoms?
Opposition to the bill has grown from 17 per cent to 50 per cent, and most people haven’t even examined the bill yet.
The government itself has already admitted the bill is fundamentally flawed. Therefore it should be withdrawn and completely reworked, from the ground up.
I encourage Canadians to learn more about how we can work together to stop Secret Police Bill C-51 at: StopC51.ca
Trish Boileau, Kelowna
