Yeah, not to rain on anyone's "now we're safe' parade here, but I am certainly not down with this "Strong" Borders Act (Bill C-2) business, to put it mildly...
Here's what is says from the horse's mouth:
The Bill will strengthen our laws and keep Canadians safe by ensuring law enforcement has the right tools to keep our borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl, and crack down on money laundering.
www.canada.ca
Here are the pointed criticism about it:
MPs speak with reporters on Parliament Hill as they convene for the daily question period in the House of Commons. NDP MP Jenny Kwan and Conservative MP Kevin Waugh comment on Bill C-2, the federal government’s new border security bill. Liberal MP Jaime Battiste faces questions on Indigenous...
www.cpac.ca
^More partisan'd source:
^Presumably, less partisan'd source:
...either way, the overview...or my extreme beef with this is as follows:
1) It's a disguised omnibus bill, which is usually the Gish gallop way of doing dodgy legislation if the sitting government wants put in unpopular decisions with less scrutiny and oversight from the public. The thing that the Liberals said they wouldn't do while governing in the last election, I'm told.
2) It has excessive and draconian measures to tighten immigration policies including turning way asylum seekers under distress and cancelling immigration applications when they feel like. No policy should ever be about "when feeling like it", as this leads to arbitrariness that all good democracies should avoid at all costs. Not to mention, being a gross violation of human rights to which they should be held to account for.
3) The searching and withholding of folks' private mail, internet communications and browsing and transferring of funds without legal warrants based on suspicion and without evidence or oversight. Our civil liberties will be going up in flames with that. And how...
4) Sending our personal private information to be scrutinized by the US authorities under the orange You Know Who administration. (Er...weren't they planning to invade us a few weeks back?) I don't know about anyone else, but I am extremely uncomfortable with my personal information ending up in their hands, knowing what they're all about and demonstratively so. And they may do with that.
5) This bill seems to be more an exercise to appease the Trump administration than strengthening our borders. As it has little to do with the latter...like actually stemming guns and illicit fentanyl in our country, And more to do with throwing our civil liberties and human rights under the bus (something the Liberals promised to protect in the last election) for better trade deal with the US. Where we really should be telling the same administration where to stuff themselves and their racist, bigoted policies and narratives instead, IMO.
...and it goes on.
I get that when I voted for the Liberals, I was taking a chance...a big chance, that they would less likely pull this kind of crap than the Conservatives would. But that never guaranteed they wouldn't do the same either. So here I am today posting something I should never have to because our government wants it cake and eat it too, to put that mildly. I feel betrayed that they are capitulating to the very entity that they supposed to protect us from, making this bill not very secure for any us. At all...
...so yeah, it's an /elbows down legislation that needs to be rescinded if not dramatically change to remove all the gross and duplicitous stuff from it. So I am here to be that person to tell you..and warn you all about this. That our True North will not be free if this goes threw, to which this bill is already under it's second reading. Just saying. /bleh
