After spending much of last week hearing expert witnesses expound on the pros and cons of the government’s proposed new anti-terror laws, the House public safety committee began clause-by-clause review of the bill on Thursday.
The government has already signalled that it intends to have Conservative MPs propose three changes, the most significant of which is removing the word ‘lawful’ from the section exempting protests from the new measures. The New Democrats and Green Party have prepared their own motions, and Green Party Elizabeth May plans to bring forward 60 potential tweaks.
Meanwhile, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien will discuss “terrorist financing in Canada and abroad” with Finance committee members, who will also hear from various lawyers, academics and, by video conference from Maryland, Anti-Money Laundering Association senior fellow Amit Kumar.
Elsewhere on the committee front:
- Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander takes questions on his bid to crack down on early and forced marriage, as well as polygamy amongst citizenship applicants, permanent residents and refugee claimants.
- Veterans members get briefed on “upcoming commemoration initiatives.”
- The Procedure and House Affairs committee goes behind closed doors to discuss their ongoing review of the MPs’ conflict of interest code.
Source: CBC News
