Parliament has recently opened its doors again, after all of the distractions of the Prorogue, the Olympics, and a disingenuous suggestion to command “true patriot love” in both genders equally, while touting an eviscerated form of “enlightened” sovereignty (as presented in Harper's speech in Davos, Switzerland) that hands our supposedly democratic governance over to various corporate-controlled entities, whether nations such as the United States, or groups like the United Nations, the World Health Organization, or for the sake of “international obligations” spelled out in such agreements as NAFTA and the recent Procurement agreement made with no democratic process and sure to further impair our businesses, industry, and employment.

I believe we all need to tell our M.P.s how important due process and national sovereignty are to us, and we need to do it right now.  I see due process and sovereignty becoming part of our history, like the proper use of the Bank of Canada to support necessary public spending.  Do you remember when that was the norm and universal health care in Canada was working?   And the time when countries were able to make the decisions they needed to make, to keep their businesses and communities healthy and their economies strong?  They respected their own and each other's needs to maintain internal stability.  These things have changed over the past 30-odd years.  I believe they have changed because of the influence and intentional levering of power by international corporations and the institutions they have created to further their own interests at the expense of the well-being of the citizens of all nations, including Canada.

Please take a few moments to consider whether or not the Government's Bill, formerly labelled C-6, An Act Respecting the Safety of Consumer Products, is in your own best interests or not.  If you think it is not, you need to tell your M.P. in very clear words that his or her re-election will depend upon voting against this bill, or bringing effective amendments to remove the dangers it poses to both due process and national sovereignty.

To refresh your memory, before the holiday break and the controversial Prorogue, Bill C-6 had been amended by the Senate.  Harper fought to prevent those amendments, but Canadians won the struggle for the Senate's decision, by a small margin. Some of the worst excesses were pruned back, and everyone expected the Bill to be sent back to the House for reconsideration, after the holiday break.  That won't happen now.  Instead of the usual temporary suspension of the session, so that business in progress would continue in the new year, Harper cleverly prorogued, killing all Bills and Committees. The Bill C-6 amendments were lost. Minister Aglukkaq now intends to reintroduce it, probably with a new number, but definitely without the amendments.

One of the problems that makes this Bill so dangerous is its generality and room for broad application of its provisions, making abuse of them very easy.  The Ministry or Government, or their agents or officers, might find this desirable to further their own political or economic agenda.  It could include the suppression of any dissent by ordinary Canadians against measures the Government may wish to introduce in the future, like mandatory vaccinations, surveillance technology, or restrictions on possession and propagation of seeds, foods, or medicinal herbs.  Their intentions need not be listed anywhere in the Act at the present time, because the Minister may add anything he or she wishes, to the Schedules, without Parliamentary oversight, making virtually any offence imaginable subject to the provisions of this Act.

The Legislative Summary states:

“Clause 2 defines several terms that are used throughout Bill C-6. The signal feature of the definitions highlighted below is their breadth. ”  It goes on to give examples such as “article” ~ which includes “(a) a consumer product; (b) anything used in the manufacturing, importation, packaging, storing, advertising, selling, labelling, testing or transportation of a consumer product; or (c) a document that is related to any of those activities or a consumer product.” and “consumer product” which is defined in clause 2 to include the components, parts, accessories and packaging of the product.  All that is required for a product to be a “consumer product” is that it “may reasonably be expected to be obtained by an individual to be used for non-commercial purposes.”

Clause 2 also erodes any meaningful sovereignty or democratic functioning in Canada, because the definition of “government” in this bill encompasses not only federal and provincial governments in Canada, but also federal Crown corporations, Aboriginal governments in Canada, foreign governments, and international organizations of states, such as the United Nations.  The Bill makes Canadians subject to the decisions and dictates of all of these organizations, none of whom are elected by us or responsible to us, regardless of our Constitution, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or any legislation created by our own Parliament.  Ask yourself if you think your, your children’s, and your country's best interests would likely be served under such conditions.  Then ask your M.P. why he or she voted for this Bill in the first place.   It undermines any notion of a free and democratic society in our country.

The Bill coming back into the House shortly, without the amendments made in the Senate, also includes the following provisions:

Health Canada's assigned officers may enter a citizen's property, home, or business, any time of the day or night, without a warrant from a judge, based only upon suspicion from an informant.  This is clearly open to abuses of all sorts.

The officers may trespass, search, seize, and confiscate, for an unlimited time, anything that they think is a clue to prove that potentially harmful products (as defined by Health Canada, remembering that this list can be expanded at any time) were being distributed or sold from the home or commercial business.  They may also destroy private property without  going to court.

No lawyer may be obtained to represent the accused in court, nor would anyone, including the accused, be allowed access to information in their personal file.

Health Canada would be allowed to share the family's personal and business information with anyone, including a foreign government or organization.

All of these provisions set a precedent for enforcement of any other offenses the Government chooses to extend them to later.

Last year Bill C-6 slid through the House without opposition, before any of us (or our M.P.s, whose job it was) had time to study its details. We can't let that happen again! We must let our M.P.s and fellow Canadians know that this Bill needs to be opposed, and why. We must use what we learned in working with the Senators, and stop or amend this Bill in the House, on all of these issues, before it ever goes to the Senate.

Why?  Because Harper has appointed five new Conservative Senators, ready to do his biding.  That is too many for the Senate to re-pass the amendments we achieved last session, or to obtain the further amendments that are needed to protect Canadian sovereignty.   We must expose this Bill's attack on civil liberties, due process, and Canada's sovereignty in the House now, and we must insist that our M.P.s do the work we pay them to do for us.  Please contact yours and encourage others to do the same.

Doris Foster

CAP Vice President