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Bill C-51 will make Canadians less safe

I always appreciate constituents expressing their views. It is a sign of a healthy and engaged electorate.

I always appreciate constituents expressing their views. It is a sign of a healthy and engaged electorate. However, I wish to clarify an issue raised by letter writer Dave Laundy.

Calling Bill C-51 the “secret police act” originated not with me, but with an editorial in the Globe and Mail, the first newspaper to condemn Bill C-51. That stand has now been supported by other media outlets. Opposition is also growing from legal and security experts and former Supreme Court justices.

On April 2, 2015, before the Senate Committee on C-51, Joe Fogarty, a man with 25 years of security service experience, former security liaison from the U.K. to Canada, classified experience with both SIRC and UK ISC, testified that C-51 will not make us safer. He outlined the weaknesses in Canada’s current anti-terror efforts and then explained how C-51 cures none of it. In fact, like many witnesses before the House committee, he testified it will increase security risks.

Bill C-51 will make us less safe. And, at the same time, it will trample on our rights.

It is not too late to stop this bad and poorly drafted legislation. I will continue to do all I can to stop it.

Elizabeth May, MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands