National security bill will help combat homegrown extremism: Goodale
OTTAWA — The Liberal government’s sweeping national security bill will make it easier to combat homegrown extremism by improving flawed anti-terror provisions, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says.
Goodale pointed Thursday to a measure in the bill that would clarify a prohibition against promoting terrorism offences in general — a provision on the books he calls “virtually unusable” because it is too vague.
The Liberal government’s security legislation, tabled in June, would narrow that wording and flesh out campaign promises to revise other elements of C-51, a contentious omnibus bill brought in by the Harper government after a gunman stormed Parliament Hill in October 2014.
The Liberal bill would limit — but not eliminate — powers that allow Canada’s spy agency to actively disrupt terror plots, ensuring such operations are compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.