Mulcair unwilling to reject anti-terrorism bill despite concerns
Archive 2015 Feb 23, 2015 Wire Editor
Federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair said he supports Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s new security bill, despite concerns that it needs reworking.
“We’re worried about the scope. And, frankly, we’re worried about the lack of oversight,” Mulcair said to Global TV’s West Block reporter Tom Clark on Sunday.
Mulcair said he will fight to change the bill “every step of the way, in every committee hearing, and in every different reading in the House.”
Mulcair differentiates his party with the Liberals who support the security bill outright and have not called for any amendments to do with scope and oversight, but Liberal leader Justin Trudeau did say he would push for stronger oversight if his party won the next election.
If passed, Bill C-51 would criminalize the promotion of terrorism, increase intelligence and police authorities, lowering the threshold of proof for arrests, and allow for radical websites and Twitter accounts to be disrupted.
The NDP is concerned with how vague the language of the bill is, not defining words like “terrorism,” “promoting,” “advocating,” and “disrupting.”
