Harper's anti-terror bill to criminalize the ‘promotion of terrorism’

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government will introduce promised new national-security legislation on Friday, including a provision that draws a line between free expression and endorsing terrorism.

Highlighting the new bill in a speech on Sunday, Mr. Harper said he will protect Canadians from homegrown extremists by giving authorities new powers – including the ability to prosecute people for “the promotion of terrorism.”

“Jihadist terrorism is not a future possibility, it is a present reality,” Mr. Harper said.

Anti-terror bill trades freedom for illusion of security

The potential destruction of terrorism is infinitesimally smaller than the damage done to our rights by a disproportionate attempt to prevent it.

Please. Please remember this. It's even more important now, when that fact is so easily forgotten in the wake of the attack on our Parliament and the tragic deaths of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.

We cannot allow the extreme actions of a few to strip us of the freedoms those soldiers worked so hard to protect. But the Canadian government continues to roll back our rights in the name of "security."

Tories disinclined to subject anti-terror measures to sunset clause

The Harper government is unlikely to include a review or expiry provision when it brings back two controversial anti-terrorism clauses that dramatically expand police powers.

A three-year review of the Anti-terrorism Act and a requirement that two contentious clauses in the act be reaffirmed – or subject to a sunset clause – after five years were included in the original legislation, brought in by the Chrétien government in 2001, as a safeguard to Canadian civil liberties.

This week, however, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews suggested he is not interested in the idea of a review of the clauses that expired in 2007 after a vote in the House of Commons.

“The extent to which they will be reviewed and how they will be reviewed is not an issue that I have considered at this point, and those are discussions I’m sure that we will have here in Parliament,” Mr. Toews told CTV’s Question Period this week.

House set for showdown over Harper's vow to bring back terror laws

Stephen Harper’s plan to bring back controversial anti-terrorism legislation signals an acrimonious fall in the House of Commons, the opposition is charging.

The NDP says it will not support the Prime Minister’s vow to push through two controversial clauses giving police increased powers to deal with potential terrorists or acts of terrorism.

“We think we have sufficient tools in the tool kit right now so we won’t be supporting further powers to the police to intervene beyond the powers they have now,” Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar said. “Let’s take a look at their agenda. It doesn’t seem to be in line with what most Canadians are concerned about …”

Instead of being worried about pensions, jobs, health care and the environment as most Canadians are, the Tories are concerned about “guns, prisons and further powers to police,” Mr. Dewar said.

“It seems like they are out of touch with everyday people ...,” he added.

Canada Anti-Terrorism Laws: Harper Conservatives Will Reintroduce Controversial Measures

The Conservative government will reintroduce controversial anti-terrorism measures that were allowed to expire amid privacy concerns and Charter rights complaints, Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed to the CBC Tuesday.

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Harper told CBC’s Peter Mansbridge that Canada needs better tools to combat the ongoing threat of major acts of terrorism and Islamist violence.

Among other controversial measures expected to be made law again are preventative arrests and the ability to force individuals to testify at “investigative hearings” if officials suspect they have knowledge of terrorist activity.

“That is our plan (to reintroduce the measures). We think those measures are necessary. We think they've been useful. And as you know, they're applied rarely, but there are times where they're needed,” said Harper in an interview to be broadcast in its entirety Thursday.