The Hill Times learned on Thursday that Bill C-30, which would give police sweeping interception powers over internet messages and web data and has caused one of the biggest Parliamentary crises for the Conservatives since they won a majority government last May, will be sent “directly” to the Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee, prior to a second reading.
Fraser Malcolm, communications director to the Government House Leader, told The Hill Timesthe bill would be sent to the Public Safety Committee, while Michael Patton, communications director to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (Provencher, Man.), said the bill would go to committee “directly,” prior to normal second reading debate followed by a vote-in-principle on the bill.
The move opens the door to possible amendments before a second reading vote, but the NDP, citing the government’s earlier attacks against the opposition parties over their criticism of the legislation, said it is not optimistic the government will make any major changes.
The assignment of Bill C-30 to a standing committee prior to a second reading vote requires five hours of debate and a vote on a government motion to do so. The Commons schedule is set for next week to Thursday, and the bill could possibly go to committee as early as the following week.
The decision to send the bill to a committee to hear from witnesses before prolonged debate and the second reading vote in the House follows a ferocious attack against the legislation and against Mr. Toews (Provencher, Man.), personally.
Only a day after Mr. Toews tabled the legislation on Tuesday, Feb. 14, he and Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.), for the first time showing any sign of compromise on major legislation in this Parliament, said in Question Period the government will “consider” amendments before going further with the bill on the floor of the House.
But NDP House Leader Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.) said he does not believe the government will give in to a range of demands for amendments, with radical voices calling for the bill’s withdrawal entirely.
“I’m not optimistic, given the attitude they’ve had,” Mr. Comartin told The Hill Times.
Some Conservatives said they expected the bill would go to the House Justice and Human Rights Committee for close scrutiny, because of the legal and privacy rights the bill affects and due to the range of Criminal Code amendments it includes.
Alberta Conservative MP Kevin Sorenson (Crowfoot, Alta.) chairs the Public Safety Committee. He is a well-liked veteran MP who has skillfully handled several studies and legislative issues.
But it is the same committee that rushed through Bill C-19, which will dismantle the federal long-gun registry. Under Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner’s (Portage-Lisgar, Man.) leadership and direction, as the ranking MP on the majority Conservative side, MPs voted as a block to defeat every amendment the opposition parties proposed. Ms. Hoeppner, a former Conservative organizer in Manitoba who played a leading role for Mr. Harper in the last Parliament with her failed bill to dismantle the gun registry, is also Parliamentary secretary to Mr. Toews, who is the most powerful Conservative MP in Manitoba and political minister for the province.
Mr. Comartin said the House Public Safety Committee normally studies legislation that is related to the correctional service and the kind of police powers that are affected by Bill C-30, and said other than the legal rights affected by the legislation, that the House Public Safety Committee is an appropriate venue for Bill C-30 to be studied.
But Mr. Comartin said he was pessimistic about chances the government will cave to the online pressure and other voices that have been mounting in opposition for more than a week.
Mr. Toews made a request to House Speaker Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.) for an investigation into allegations that Commons computers were used to publicize embarrassing details about his divorce and a past sexual affair; as well as an investigation into whether someone from within the Commons also jammed up his Parliamentary email accounts with a flood of emails.
As of Thursday, both of those investigations were still underway, the RCMP and a spokesperson for Mr. Scheer told The Hill Times.
Mr. Comartin said the government will “entertain amendments” but only in the short term. “When it comes down to the final part, in a few weeks or a few months when we actually get to amendments, they’re not going to allow it, they’re going to go ahead with this legislation as is,” he predicted.
Mr. Comartin said he was also was surprised about the emphasis the government is continuing to place on aspects of the bill that would combat internet transmission of child pornography, following Mr. Toews’s retreat last week from his position that opposition MPs were supporting child pornographers because they opposed some of bill’s provisions.
“They’re just totally, almost obsessively, focused in that one area and ignoring the rights that we all have,” said Mr. Comartin.
A spokesperson for Mr. Toews also reiterated the government’s emphasis on child pornography. though the bill is more broadly geared toward organized crime, money laundering, monopolies and terrorism—when he confirmed the legislation will go straight to committee hearings.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
No comments:
Post a Comment