‘Excessive and Unprecedented’: Privacy Commissioner Sounds Alarm on Sweeping Anti-Terrorism Legislation

‘Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has criticized proposed anti-terrorism legislation for affording government “excessive” powers to sweep up information from all Canadians with neither due oversight nor the necessary privacy safeguards.

The legislation, Bill C-51, was introduced in January and has been met with fierce criticism by those who say it was introduced through fear-mongering, threatens to chill legitimate political speech and will face limited debate.

In his op-ed published Friday, Commissioner Daniel Therrien writes the the bill “does not strike the right balance” between privacy and security.’

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