Fight against Online Spying Bill C-13 will continue, as government prepares to ram unpopular legislation through House of Commons today

Controversial bill is opposed by huge majority of Canadians, with even the government’s own supporters opposing it by over 2.5:1

A diverse range of Canadians from across the political spectrum have spoken out against the online spying provisions in Bill C-13, including the federal Privacy Commissioner, constitutional experts, firearms groups, conservative elder statesman Stockwell Day, Carol Todd (mother of cyberbullying victim Amanda Todd), Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian, and the Canadian Bar Association. A recent Forum Research poll showed a massive 73% of Canadians now oppose Bill C-13, with Conservative voters opposing it by over 2.5 to 1.

“It looks like Peter MacKay is hell-bent on ramming this spying bill through, despite massive opposition from Canadians and a large majority of his party’s own supporters,” says OpenMedia.ca communications manager David Christopher. “Important parts of this legislation have already been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. If the government continues with its irresponsible head-in-the-sand approach, taxpayers could be on the hook for millions to defend this bill in the courts. Peter MacKay and his government will need to account for their terrible track record on privacy at the next election.”

Christopher continued: “This extreme legislation will give a range of government authorities the ability to monitor our private lives, often without a warrant or any judicial oversight. We’ll continue working with Canadians of every shade of political opinion to overturn this reckless spying bill. The Senate prides itself on being the chamber of ‘sober second thought’, and if ever a piece of legislation needed a sober rethink it’s this one.”

Tens of thousands of Canadians have spoken out about the online spying provisions of Bill C-13 in campaigns organized by community-based OpenMedia.ca. The group has led a diverse coalition of over 60 major organizations spanning the political spectrum, including: the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the National Firearms Association, major unions, and small businesses.

A video about Bill C-13 was launched earlier this year by OpenMedia and rapidly went viral, securing the top two spots of reddit Canada. OpenMedia has also been running radio ads about C-13 in Peter MacKay’s home riding of Central Nova.

Tens of thousands of Canadians are calling for effective legal measures to safeguard our privacy from government surveillance at http://OurPrivacy.ca

Contact

David Christopher
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
1-778-232-1858
[email protected]

About OpenMedia.ca’s privacy campaign

OpenMedia.ca led the successful StopSpying.ca campaign that forced the government to back down on its plans to introduce a costly, invasive, and warrantless online spying law (Bill C-30). Nearly 150,000 Canadians took part in the campaign. To learn more, see this infographic.

On October 10, 2013 OpenMedia.ca collaborated with over 40 major organizations and over a dozen academic experts to form the Protect Our Privacy Coalition, which is the largest pro-privacy coalition in Canadian history. The Coalition is calling for effective legal measures to protect the privacy of every resident of Canada against intrusion by government entities.

OpenMedia.ca and the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) recently announced they will work together to put a stop to illegal government surveillance against law-abiding Canadians. OpenMedia.ca has launched a national campaign encouraging Canadians to support a BCCLA legal action which aims to stop illegal spying by challenging the constitutionality of the government’s warrantless collection of data on Canadians’ everyday Internet use.

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More Information

• OpenMedia radio ad for Peter MacKay's Central Nova riding
• Supreme Court’s historic decision on warrantless disclosures is huge win for Canadian privacy, places big question mark over constitutionality of govt’s Bill C-13. Source: OpenMedia.ca
• Bill C-13 would let authorities obtain private information without a warrant. Source: Michael Geist
• Supposed “cyberbullying” legislation will erode the privacy of Canadians. Source: OpenMedia.ca
• Canada's Lawful Access Bill Appears to Have Contained a Provision to Enable PRISM-Style Surveillance Source: Michael Geist
• Lawful Access back on the agenda this Fall? - Michael Geist.
• Data breach protocols deficient in 9 federal departments, watchdog finds. - [Source: CBC News]
• Internet Law expert Michael Geist on why Canadians should be concerned about government spying.
• In this article, The Globe and Mail describes the revelations about Canadian government spying as “disturbing and unacceptable”
• This document, obtained by The Globe through Access to Information, shows how Minister MacKay authorized a top secret program to data-mine global ‘metadata’ in 2011.