Original author: Andrew Mayeda
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: N/A
Date: May 16, 2007


Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said yesterday the Harper government is moving "aggressively" to resurrect two provisions of the Anti-terrorism Act that sparked a furore in the House of Commons and exposed deep divisions within the ranks of the Liberal party.

The provisions of the law enabling "preventive arrests" and "investigative hearings" were allowed to expire this spring after the Liberals withdrew support for extending them.
The Liberals, who brought in the clauses while in power after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, argued the clauses were no longer necessary and could infringe on civil liberties.

But the move unleashed a torrent of condemnation from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose party labelled the Liberals "soft on terror." The switch also drew criticism from tough-on-crime members of the Liberal caucus.

Mr. Day told the Commons public safety committee yesterday that he and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson have been developing amendments to the country's security certificate regime to address shortcomings identified by a recent Supreme Court ruling.Law enforcement agencies use the certificates to detain non-citizens suspected of posing a national security threat. But Canada's top court ruled in February that the practice of withholding evidence from detainees violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"We want to get that done soon," Mr. Day said of the amendments. "It's subject to the House leader's agenda, but things are pretty close to ready to present."
He suggested the government could introduce those amendments as part of a package that reintroduces the Anti-terrorism Act provisions.

"We're moving as aggressively as we can ... on the security certificates and the (Anti-terrorism Act) provisions."

Mr. Day's office declined to provide further details. But at the end of a brisk walk with reporters to a Parliament Hill exit, he confirmed that the government hopes to revive the provisions.

If so, the move could also revive the debate that fed some of the most acrimonious rhetoric this Parliament has seen.

At the peak of the uproar, Mr. Harper attempted to link the Liberal "flip flop" to a Vancouver Sun report that the father-in-law of Liberal MP Navdeep Bains was on a list of people to be questioned about the Air India bombing through an investigative hearing.

The implication was that the Liberals had switched positions to get a relative of a caucus member off the hook. The Liberals flatly rejected the charge and accused the prime minister of launching a base personal attack.

Liberal MP Roy Cullen, who broke caucus ranks to support the extension of the clauses last time, said he still supports the clauses. A debate on the clauses among Liberals would likely be divisive again, he said.

"If I was a betting person, I would say that it would probably not be clear sailing again."

He said he hopes the Conservatives are bringing the clauses back because they feel they are necessary, not to "play political games."

The preventive-arrest clause enabled police to apprehend suspects without warrant and detain them for several days without charge if authorities had reason to believe a terrorist act would be committed. The investigative-hearings provision allowed judges to compel individuals to testify in terror cases.

Neither clause was ever used.

An investigative hearing was ordered in the Air India trial but wasn't held because the trial ended before the Supreme Court shot down a constitutional challenge to the clause.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.