Bill C-51 will just drag Canada deeper into the world of state-sponsored terror

Interesting story afloat today about whether the foreign agent arrested in Turkey on suspicion of shepherding foreigners into the Islamic State might have links to CSIS, Canada's spy agency. For my money, the weasel-speak coming out of Ottawa as the Harperites deny these shocking allegations is less than reassuring.

The previous day saw a story in the Toronto Star detailing the collusion between CSIS and the FBI in their attempted set up of the so-called VIA Rail bombers, especially the third member of this "terror team," one Ahmed Abassi. Most of that story was made public by the Washington Post last summer. What should give Canadians pause is how closely not only CSIS, but virtually any federal government department, is willing to bend to the interests of Washington.

The FBI informant obviously had an unlimited budget available with which to entrap Abassi into a terror plot, and was allowed to freely operate in Canada by Canadian authorities across the security, immigration, and policing spectrum.

All of this happened without the benefit of Bill C-51, which will enhance the power of our security state.

To keep us safer, of course...

In reply to critics, the Harper gang points to the robust civilian oversight of out security apparatus.

Ya, right!

Here's the guy personally appointed by Big Steve to head up civilian oversight of CSIS from 2008 to 2011.

  

Arthur Porter; fraudster, quack, con-man, now cooling his heels in a Panamanian prison awaiting extradition to Canada.

That's what "robust civilian oversight" looks like to Stephen Harper.

Reassuring, eh?

The way I read it, under C-51, the next time this blog points out that Hamas is the democratically elected government of Gaza and Israel is morally obliged to negotiate with them, I could be found guilty of promoting terrorism. Hamas is on Ottawa's official list of terrorist entities, democracy be damned!

That's scary!