nucklehead Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/tories-set-perilous-precedent-by-retroactively-changing-law-to-absolve-rcmp-information-commissioner-says The federal information commissioner says the Conservative government is setting a “perilous precedent” by retroactively rewriting Canada’s access-to-information law to absolve the RCMP of wrongdoing. Suzanne Legault says if the government is allowed to retroactively change the law, there’s nothing preventing parliamentarians from rewriting election laws to stop cheaters from being prosecuted. A special report tabled in Parliament on Thursday reveals Legault recommended almost two months ago that charges be laid against the RCMP for its role in withholding and destroying gun registry data. But instead of Justice Minister Peter MacKay moving on the recommendation to lay charges, the Harper government rewrote the law, backdated the changes and buried the amendment in an omnibus budget bill last week. Legault said the issue goes far beyond the now-defunct gun registry. “We could do the same thing after investigating potential electoral fraud. We could erase these things retroactively,” she said in an interview. Or the former Liberal government, she said, could have stripped auditor general Sheila Fraser of her investigative power at the height of the sponsorship scandal. “This is the kind of precedent that we are proposing to set with these proposed amendments. Now that is why this matter is very serious,” said Legault. She said each member of Parliament “is going to have to look themselves in the mirror and decide whether they can, in their own integrity, actually vote in favour of those proposed amendments.” Legault filed a suit Thursday in Federal Court in an effort to preserve the rights of the complainant in the case, who had been seeking copies of the now-defunct, long-gun registry. In a letter to the Speakers of both the House of Commons and the Senate, Legault said she was submitting her special report “in the hopes that parliamentarians will carefully consider the implications of Bill C-59,” the omnibus budget implementation bill. The RCMP responded to the report by stating it felt it had fully complied with provisions of the Access to Information Act. “The RCMP would vigorously defend against any accusation of unlawful conduct in respect of the handling of this Access to Information request,” spokesman Sgt. Harold Pfleiderer said in an email. Under the provisions in Bill C-59, the Mounties won’t have to defend anything. The omnibus budget bill exempts any “request, complaint, investigation, application, judicial review, appeal or other proceeding under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act,” related to those old records. Legault revealed that this is the fourth time she has recommended to the attorney general of Canada that there are grounds for criminal charges under the Access to Information Act. No charges have ever been laid, despite past findings of blatant and illegal political interference in the workings of the system designed to inform Canadians about the activities of their government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Mounties were just obeying the will of his Conservative majority government. The government, the Parliament of Canada, has already decided to abolish the long-gun registry “The government, the Parliament of Canada, has already decided to abolish the long-gun registry,” Harper said at an event in Windsor, Ont. “The RCMP have acted fully within Parliament’s intention in destroying the data in the long gun registry.” Harper asserted that the dispute is over contradictions between the Access to Information Act and his government’s legislation to end the long gun registry. That is not the case. In fact, the dispute revolves around the RCMP refusing to disclose gun registry data while the Conservative bill was still being debated and not yet law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2SKATES1STICK Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 socialism, meet tyranny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Western Red Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Sounds like we aspire to be like the Americans. Yay. Everytime I go to get some tackle at Canadian Tire, I see a bunch of meatheads sizing up and chatting about guns. Makes me laugh. All in their clean Cabelas gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaudette Celly Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 socialism, meet tyranny Same same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabreFan1 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 WTFH, Canada needs to stop trying to one-up the US on ridiculous gov't corruption. Unbelievable. Canadians vote in these morons. I hope Canada's high courts strike down this law if it gets passed. Our politicians are continually ruining this country. Don't let the same thing happen up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsedin33 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 George W. Harper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 So when do our troops start goose-stepping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanGnome Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 The wonton abuse of power being demonstrated not just occasionally, but now having established a clear pattern should be enough to ensure serious changes at the governmental level. Three things REALLY bother me about this: 1. If the RCMP truly believes it did no wrong doing, it should allow the case to go to trial 2. If #1 is true, then the amendment to the Access to Information Act would be unnecessary 3. If #1 and #2 are true, then any change should be above board and should not have to be buried in an omnibus bill entitled "Budget Implementation" I'm absolutely sick and tired of all of the hidden agendas, and back room politics from this Con Government, and specifically Harper himself. The law is not something that should be changed on a whim. The law is the law, and if the integrity of the law is not upheld at the highest levels, then what is to stop citizens from disavowing the law at the lowest levels? This pending precedent, along with Bill C-51 (CSIS) and what they're doing re: Anti Israeli boycotts constitute all of the required ingredients to begin instituting a police state nation. The Access to Information Act is meant to protect Canadian citizens from this very sort of corruption and despicable shenanigans. The plaintiff's rights, freedoms and liberty are being trampled upon in an attempt to keep corrupt officials in charge so that they can claim their undeserved pensions. The political landscape in this country is truly sickening, and almost at a height of depravity worse than the US Government, if only for the single fact that this type of behavior is relatively new (within the last 8-10 years) whereas this has been the mandate du jour for the US for as long as I can remember. Might as well burn the Canadian Constitution and slap monitoring devices to everyone's ankles. &^@# Harper. &^@# him right in his smarmy unconstitutional ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefCon1 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Idiot Harper strikes again, when is this idiot going out so we can celebrate?I rather have George. W. Bush than this idiot. He will ruin Canada with his stupid policies and law changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianLoonie Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Gee, why don't you all vote for a party that truly believes in personal freedom and smaller government... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefCon1 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Gee, why don't you all vote for a party that truly believes in personal freedom and smaller government... At this point, the homeless person living at E. Hastings is a better option than Harper. I don't even care about parties anymore, anything is better than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otherwise Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Here is a vid that explains just how outrageous this law change is. http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Politics/ID/2667225306/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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