The CCF has serious concerns with Bill C-8, the federal government’s proposed cybersecurity legislation, which would allow the minister of industry to secretly order telecommunications service providers to cease providing services to individual Canadians. According to the bill, the government would be able to shut down phone and internet access if it has “reasonable grounds to believe that it is necessary to do so to secure the Canadian telecommunications system against any threat, including that of interference, manipulation, disruption or degradation.” These orders would remain secret indefinitely, with the minister required only to present an annual report to Parliament on the number of orders made and their opinion on their necessity, reasonableness and utility.
The CCF fears this law could be weaponized to silence critics of the government at the whim of the minister, under the guise of vaguely posing some kind of “threat” to Canada’s telecom system. If you’re concerned by this alarming expansion of state power and the associated threats to civil liberties, use this form to write to your MP to demand changes to Bill C-8 and Bill C-2 (the Liberals’ recent “border security” bill). |
