FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NDP Public Safety Critic Jenny Kwan Condemns Liberals' Push to Fast-Track Bill C-22, Demands End to Secret Surveillance Powers
New Democrats remain deeply concerned about Bill C-22 and the government's decision to force the bill through committee before parliamentarians had a meaningful opportunity to debate the full package of amendments adopted last night or listen to the concerns of civil liberties organizations across the country. While several amendments partially improve the legislation, they do not resolve its fundamental civil liberties and privacy concerns. The government fixed some of the most obvious problems in Bill C-22, but it did not fix the central problem: Canadians are still being asked to trust broad surveillance powers, secret orders, and future regulations that Parliament itself has never fully examined.
We welcome changes clarifying that electronic service providers cannot be compelled to introduce systemic vulnerabilities into their services and that providers cannot generally be forced to decrypt information they do not control, although loopholes and vague wording in these definitions still leave much room for concern.
However, concerns around lower thresholds for Canadian and foreign law enforcement to access personal information went unaddressed and the bill continues to create sweeping new surveillance authorities while granting significant discretion to ministers and Cabinet behind closed doors. The government has preserved broad powers to require the retention of metadata deemed "essential" for law enforcement and national security purposes, despite longstanding concerns that metadata can reveal intimate details about a person's life, associations, movements, and activities. The bill also continues to rely heavily on secret orders, confidentiality requirements, and regulatory powers that will receive far less parliamentary scrutiny than primary legislation.
Although new review and reporting provisions involving the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency are welcome, oversight after the fact is not a substitute for robust safeguards before personal information is collected, retained, or accessed.
Canadians deserve legislation that protects both public safety and fundamental rights. Instead, the government chose to curtail committee debate while dozens of amendments remained under consideration. The centralizing approach of the Carney government continues.
New Democrats believe Parliament must carefully examine any legislation that expands state surveillance powers, affects digital privacy, or risks eroding civil liberties. Bill C-22 falls far short of that standard, and Canadians deserve better.
