Liberals dismiss ‘tinfoil hat’ privacy fears as lawful access bill passes – National
Liberals dismiss ‘tinfoil hat’ privacy fears as lawful access bill passes – National
https://globalnews.ca/news/11911957/lawful-access-bill-passes-privacy-liberals-tinfoil-hat/
Publish Date: 2026-06-18 17:57:00
Source Domain: globalnews.ca
Liberals are dismissing the privacy concerns surrounding the government’s lawful access bill as “tinfoil hat” and “paranoid” conspiracy theories, even after amending the controversial legislation to address some of those issues.
The House of Commons passed Bill C-22 on Thursday before breaking for the summer, a day after approving a motion to fast-track the bill and end debate at the public safety committee, which was then forced to approve it just before midnight without debating dozens of outstanding amendments.
The amended bill will now head to the Senate.
The legislation would give law enforcement the ability to get access to digital information more quickly and easily for investigations under a judicial warrant.
Yet provisions in the bill that would allow the public safety minister to secretly order electronic service providers to retain user metadata and create access capabilities for their systems have sparked alarm from privacy advocates, academics, tech companies and opposition parties.
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At a press conference outside the House of Commons on Thursday, Government House leader Steven MacKinnon accused Conservatives of “obstruction” during the committee’s debate while defending the decision to fast-track the bill.
“It used to be that Conservatives were the law and order party,” he told reporters. “This is a very real set of reforms in terms of criminal justice. What it has met from the Conservatives is this wall of conspiracy theory, frankly paranoia, that I know many other Conservatives bristle at.
“I hope that the conspiracies and the tinfoil hats are something that will fade away over time, but we can now safely say that it is the Liberal Party that’s the party that’s most clearly for law and order in the country.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association pushed back on MacKinnon’s comments, noting it carefully assessed the legislation and compared it to…
