It was bad. It was really bad. It was the worst week the Conservatives have had since they became a Majority Government. Bill C-30, the “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act” allows the Government and Canadian authorities to track the digital footprint of Canadian citizens without a warrant in situations deemed “exceptional”. Problem: the word “exceptional” is not defined in the bill. C-30 has been endorsed by many police chiefs around Canada, including the one here in Winnipeg, but severely lacks the endorsement of Canadians’ common sense faculties. If there is child pornography transpiring, it certainly ought to be stopped; however, the ends hardly justify the means, which is assuming the means are even being used to meet the ends.
Elizabeth May brought up a terrific point, criticizing Vic Toews for arguing the gun registry was too much of an invasion of privacy, and presently claiming that a privacy invasion which completely eclipses anything in recent Canadian history is somehow acceptable. This is Mr. Toews having it both ways. Ralph Goodale added that the Conservative Government used the same privacy invasion argument for the anonymous long form census. How an anonymous census which never suffered a security breach is a greater threat to the privacy of Canadians than the ability to trace every website, email and text message associated with a citizen is beyond all comprehensible reason.
The Conservatives, however, have been criticized by progressives before, proroguing government in 2008 for example, but they went ahead and did it anyways, so why are they amending the bill? The answer, it turns out, is that no one ever polled the Conservative members or their representatives in Ottawa. Apparently Conservative members and many MPs don’t see a difference between opposing the gun registry and opposing government spying. Good on them for being consistent, bad on Mr. Toews for embarrassing the Conservative Party.
If you thought privacy scares were a PR nightmare, what about wide-spread election fraud? RackNine, an Edmonton call centre that worked for only one federal party (the Conservatives) were linked to automated calls in contested ridings which led many Liberal voters to believe they were being contacted by Elections Canada, stating that their polling station had been changed.
Let me be clear, this story, and any election fraud does not only affect the Tories. It hurts all of us. It hurts anyone interested in politics, and all political parties. It hurts the credibility of the democratic institution and every single elected politician. It makes the system look dishonest and crooked, unworthy of the hard earned tax dollars they already see spent on helicopter joyrides and an absent upper chamber.
There is no proof that the senior members of the Conservative Party were involved in this, but there is proof that someone within the party spearheaded this project. It was not 23-year old Micheal Sona from Guelph. It was someone with Liberal lists and influence. I only hope they are publicly named and shamed, incarcerated and completely excommunicated from the Canadian political process.
This week was probably the worst five days to be inside the Tory caucus, mainly because they learned – in the hardest way possible mind you – that they are still accountable to at least two groups: their base and the police. Let’s just hope Bob Rae gets some help from his NDP counterparts this week during question period to keep the fire next to our Prime Minister’s feet burning.
