- OTTAWA - A Liberal
back-bencher
has broken ranks with his party and criticized the anti-terrorism bill
as "a deal with the devil."
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- John McKay made his comments during a House of Commons
debate on Bill C-36 on Monday afternoon.
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- McKay says the amendments recommended by the justice
minister and adopted by the Justice Committee don't go far enough to
safeguard
civil liberties.
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- McKay has expressed his concerns about Bill C-36 before,
but never quite like he did in Parliament. "We have eroded civil
liberties,"
he said. "But our Faustian bargain? Will it in fact give us greater
security?"
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- Justice Minister Anne McLellan has tried to quell
criticism,
by volunteering changes to the bill: a five year sunset clause on new
powers of arrest without charge, and an annual report on the
legislation.
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- McLellan's suggestions were adopted by the Justice
Committee.
But McKay, who's also a member of the committee, says the amendments aren't
enough to sway him.
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- "I say this quite candidly ... the evidence for
the need for the bill was not put forward at this committee."
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- McKay's Toronto riding includes a number of Muslim- and
Arab-Canadians who are worried about being targeted by the new laws. McKay
says he will reluctantly vote with his party to move the bill toward third
reading.
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- "We will be voting with heavy hearts and a great
deal of scepticism that this is a trade of rights for security," he
said.
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- Conservative leader Joe Clark, who until now has voted
with the government to move the bill ahead, said he's also concerned about
the ramifications of the legisaltion.
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- "What we are worried about here is the assault on
the civil rights on Canadians across the country, an assault that is
entirely
unnecessary in an effective fight against terrorism." Clark's call
for a committee to oversee the use of the legislation was defeated by
government.
Clark called it a travesty.
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- "It reminds me of nothing more than the War Measures
Act. A War Measures Act introduced and maintained with the very same
arguments
by an earlier Liberal government."
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- Clark's opposition appeared to come as a surprise to
New Democrat Bill Blaikie. The NDP is the only party to have consistently
opposed the provisions in Bill C-36.
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- Blaikie called on the Tories and the Bloc
Québécois
to help block the bill.
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- But that unity would be only symbolic.
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- Even if McKay voted against his caucus colleagues, the
Liberals are still easily able to win a vote moving Bill C-36 to third
and final reading.
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- Written by CBC News Online staff.
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