Perhaps people don’t care any more. That’s possible. Or perhaps it’s easier for centre-left governments to sell hard-right policies. That’s possible too.
With its new national security legislation, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has pulled off quite a coup. It has kept some of the worst elements of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s widely discredited Bill C-51. But so far, it has managed to do so without creating much political flak.
When Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale unveiled the draft legislation Tuesday, most attention was focused on new oversight bodies.
The proposed National Security and Intelligence Review Agency would monitor Canada’s many spy agencies. As well, two key agencies — the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Communications Security Establishment — would be required to obtain the OK of a new Intelligence Commissioner before undertaking some actions.
Many welcomed these new bodies. As a judicial inquiry into the imprisonment and torture of Maher Arar noted 11 years ago, oversight of Canada’s spooks has been singularly inconsistent.
But what has been less remarked upon is the Liberal government’s decision to give CSIS agents extraordinary new policing powers.