Conservatives call on government to split controversial police search powers bill

OTTAWA — The Conservatives are calling on the government to split its controversial lawful access bill, signalling they are willing to support some of the new tools for police and intelligence agencies to obtain Canadians’ information while further studying other more contentious proposals.

The Conservatives tabled a motion asking the House of Commons to split the legislation, known as Bill C-22, in two at the Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon.

If the motion passes, it will send an official request to the House of Commons to split the bill into two separate bills C-22A and C-22B, which would then proceed through Parliament separately.

In return, Conservatives say they would support Bill C-22A to pass it before the summer recess but would push to further study and amend the second bill C-22B.

“We as Conservatives were committed to seeing part one potentially become law before the before the summer adjournment, but part two raises some serious concerns for us,” Conservative MP Rhonda Kirkland told the committee.

Bill C-22 aims to reform Canada’s lawful access regime, which regulates the most intrusive powers afforded to police and intelligence agencies. The new regime would make it easier for police and intelligence agencies to intercept private communications or personal data as part of their investigations.

The reform has faced fierce and growing pushback from opposition parties, tech giants, privacy and civil liberty groups, who argue it does not do enough to protect Canadians’ privacy.

The bill is divided into two parts. The first proposes that police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) be able to approach telecommunications companies and ask them if, yes or no, an individual is a client before having to get a warrant for more information. It then sets out a new path for authorities to obtain client information from the companies with the appropriate warrant.

This section would become Bill C-22A under the Conservative motion and is generally supported by opposition parties.

The second part of the current bill proposes new obligations to electronic service providers to organize and retain various types of client data — some for up to one year — in a way that makes it obtainable by law enforcement or CSIS with a warrant.

That means that if passed, the bill would compel electronic service providers to store and make information like device locations or cameras available to police or CSIS with the requisite warrant. That could be used to track a person’s live location in case they pose a threat to national security or are considered to be in danger, the government cited as examples.

That section of the bill in particular has been the focus of most criticism that it could force tech companies to undermine their encryption services or compel them to implement tracking or “mass surveillance” tools if the government requires it.

C-22 is strongly supported by police services across Canada and CSIS, who argue that their investigations into serious crimes like extortion, terrorism or child sex abuse material are significantly hampered because of Canada’s lack of a modern-day lawful access regime.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office did not immediately respond to questions on if he would support the move.

National Post

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