Mulcair invokes memory of War Measures Act
He says Quebecers know ‘you’ve got to protect both your home and your rights’
OTTAWA— New Democratic Leader Thomas Mulcair is hopeful Quebecers with long memories of anti-terrorism efforts will boost their support in the polls in that province.
The history lesson Mulcair hopes Quebecers will keep in mind as they consider which party to support in the next federal election is that the NDP was the only party whose leader opposed the War Measures Act invoked by the Liberal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as a response to the FLQ crisis in October 1970.
“You ask Quebecers whether they think it was a good idea to put hundreds of people in jail without charge during the War Measures Act, you won’t find a single Quebecer who agrees with that . . . We have a histo- ry, a very proud history, of principled leadership that’s always guided the NDP, and Quebecers react very favourably to that,” Mulcair said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Toronto.
Mulcair confirmed he was bringing up the War Measures Act — which saw more than 450 people arrested in Quebec, most of whom were released without being charged — in relation to Bill C-51, the new antiterrorism law the Conservative government introduced last month.
The proposed legislation would, among other things, decrease the amount of evidence police need to obtain peace bonds and put people under surveillance, allow government agencies to share more information with each other about national security investigations and make it a crime to promote attacks against Canada or Canadians.
“I think that Quebecers always understand that you look at the original (French-language) version of the Canadian national anthem, (we must protect) “nos foyers et nos droits”. You’ve got to protect both your home and your rights. Nobody says balance one against the other, or give up a little bit of one for the sake of the other,” Mulcair said.
“The government has an obligation to do both at the same time, so yeah, Quebecers have learned very tough lessons about governments that try for the purpose of their own electoral fortunes, to get very tough and to do things that of course breach our rights, which is what happened with the War Measures Act in 1970, and of course the NDP is still the same party. We are the only one that stood up against that and we are the only ones who are asking the tough questions, which of course remain unanswered with regard to Bill C-51,” Mulcair said.
The NDP has yet to reveal one way or the other whether it will support Bill C-51, but Mulcair, who wants the greater powers it would give to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to come with greater oversight, said Tuesday his party is still leaning toward no.
“We are going to continue our analysis to see if there is anything else in there that deserves our support, but so far we haven’t seen anything else to change our minds from what we started to express last week,” Mulcair said.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said last week his party wants Bill C-51 to be amended to include greater oversight, but if that does not happen, the Liberals would support it anyway and promise changes if they win the election.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has argued the necessary oversight for CSIS already exists in the form of the civilian-led Security Intelligence Review Committee.
“The oversight is there. The oversight is strong,” Harper said in question period Feb. 4.