Editor:
John Weston, MP, spouts the party line with regard to Bill C-51 as the obedient member of the Conservative caucus that he always is. He says that enhancing the powers of CSIS, for example, is going to protect Canadians’ “security and freedom.” Using this phrase is disingenuous at best and blatant misrepresentation (also known as doublespeak) at worst.
Why? Because security to Canadians refers to security of food, shelter, medical treatment and other essentials of life. Canadians use the word freedom to mean our Charter — protected democratic rights to free speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion and the right to privacy. These rights, which are so basic to our democracy, are being purposefully destroyed or radically altered by our increasingly undemocratic federal government — undemocratic because there has not been any national discussion of the need or not for Bill C-51.
The “security and freedom” that the Conservative government means is that provided by quasi-military/security forces. It isn’t security and freedom that Bill C-51 will give us — quite the opposite, in fact, because as stated by Edward Snowden, a loss of privacy is a loss of liberty and freedom.
Why does the government want to authorize more intrusion into our private lives? Because of two isolated random attacks last year in Montreal and Ottawa and the need to bolster the ideas of war, or is it because the government wants more tools to repress dissent and legitimate opposition? By promoting insecurity and unfreedom, the Harper government is creating for itself a platform for re-election based on fear and xenophobia (also known as blind nationalism and bigotry).
Alison Sawyer, Gibsons
