Scrapped anti-terror measures to be re-introduced.

I wonder if the opposition will vote down this bill. Perhaps the Tories want to portray the opposition parties as soft on terrorism if they do not support it. The Tories commitment to human rights has limits when it comes to anyone suspected of terrorism.


Tories to reintroduce scrapped anti-terror measures: Day
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | 2:27 PM ET
CBC News
The federal government plans to introduce legislation that would renew controversial anti-terrorism measures voted down by opposition parties earlier this year, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says.

Day said Tuesday he has drafted a bill to reinstate preventive arrests, which allow police to detain or restrain terror suspects without charge.

He also said the bill would allow the resumption of investigative hearings, which require anyone with information relevant to the investigation of a terrorist act to appear before a judge.

Both the Commons public safety committee and a Senate panel have already recommended extending those provisions, but Liberal MP and committee member Roy Cullen told CBC News Wednesday that Day must include other key recommendations from both panel reports to ensure the bill's passage.

Cullen also reiterated the Commons panel's request for a special panel of lawyers to deal with secret evidence in security cases, acting as a "devil's advocate" for those accused of terrorism.

"I hope they come forward with a good, constructive package and then some of my colleagues might be persuaded," said Cullen, who voted with the Conservatives for extending the measures in the parliamentary vote in February.



The proposal to keep the measures in place for three more years was voted down 159-124 in the House of Commons.

The Anti-Terrorism Act became part of the Criminal Code in December 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The changes to the code were "aimed at disabling and dismantling the activities of terrorists groups and those who support them."

Day did not indicate when the new bill would be introduced to Parliament.

CSIS to expand into foreign intelligence
Day also told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will be expanded to do covert foreign intelligence gathering abroad.

That prompted Cullen to accuse the Conservatives of reneging on a campaign promise in the last federal election to create a foreign intelligence service separate from CSIS.

"I'm not surprised," he said. "Rolling it into CSIS, I'm not so sure how that would work."

With files from the Canadian Press