Growing public pressure has compelled the Harper Conservative government to make a handful of minor amendments to Bill C-51, while rejecting all changes proposed by the opposition parties in Parliament. This tactical retreat shows that further mass opposition outside Parliament can help slow the anti-democratic and pro-war “security state” agenda of this government. The Communist Party of Canada maintains that these amendments are completely inadequate, and that Bill C-51 remains fundamentally flawed and must be scrapped.
Until now, the Conservatives had denied any need to modify C-51. Clearly they did not expect such an impressive range of public opposition, including from significant parts of the ruling class who are uncomfortable with the Conservatives’ sharp shift towards authoritarianism.
While the minor amendments are designed to allay the fears of a few critics, the underlying assumptions behind the Bill remain in place. The Conservative amendments do not affect the most dangerous aspects of Bill C-51, which empower the state and its repressive and spying apparatus much wider authority to track opposition voices, and to treat Charter rights as secondary to so-called security concerns. In particular:
· Removing the word “lawful” from the section listing exemptions to the new counter-terror measures will not stop the RCMP and CSIS from monitoring protests. The Toronto Star revealed on March 29 that the Government Operations Centre received reports on more than 160 protests, community events, and demonstrations between May 2014 and February 2015;
· Clarifying that CSIS agents (newly empowered to “disrupt” potential threats) will not be able to make arrests, does not change the reality that this mandate creates a basis for the most reactionary elements within police forces to inflict actions such as those taken at a March 27 student protest in Quebec, where Naomi Trudeau-Tremblay was shot at point-blank range with a tear gas canister;
The “disruption” power allows almost any “dirty trick” to be carried out by CSIS, and there is little question that these powers will be abused. The powers include detention, which is most likely to be used to “detain” people abroad – and, if the political will exists, also in Canada.
Despite the government’s claims, this legislation is really not about ISIS, or about stopping terrorism and preventing “radicalization”. Bill C-51 must be understood in the context of labour militancy against austerity measures, the student strikes in Quebec, struggles against tar sands extraction and fracking, grassroots movements such as Idle No More and Occupy, and growing interest in revolutionary alternatives to capitalist crisis, including the Communist Party and the Young Communist League, which have been targets of state repression on many previous occasions. This legislation is intended to move Canada in a reactionary and even fascist direction, by legalizing state terrorism, at home and abroad.
In our view, C-51 must be seen in the broader context of the increasingly reckless, aggressive policies of the Canadian state to engage in wars and occupations which will have unpredictable and very destabilizing long term global impacts. A clear example is the extension of the “mission” in Iraq, which will involve a protracted ground war, and expands Canadian bombing missions into Syria.
The Conservatives must be made to pay a severe political price for enacting these reactionary laws. The people’s forces should take inspiration from the broad outpouring of criticism against Bill C-51, and the resulting achievement of some push-back. Now is the time to step up this urgent fight, and to go further. We call on the people’s forces to continue mass education of the public on these issues, and to build popular protest and visible opposition, especially around the next Day of Action which will take place on April 18.
Statement by the Central Executive Committee,
Communist Party of Canada
March 31, 2015