Constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati vowed to challenge Harper government’s anti-terror legislation in court and called on Canadians to vote against candidates of any party supporting Bill C-51 at the next election.
Speaking at rally against Bill C-51 in Toronto, Galati, who successfully blocked Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s nominee Marc Nadon’s appointment to the supreme court, said that the legislation mirrors what was passed in Germany and Italy in the 1930s.
“What this legislation creates is a modern-day Gestapo,” Galati said. “No exaggeration, that’s what it creates. It chills, sensors and criminalizes free speech, free association and constitutional rights of assembly.”
“It takes all your private information and shares it will all government agencies, including foreign governments,” Galati said. “And for some Canadians, it becomes an eventuality of torture and death when travelling abroad.”
“It makes freedom of expression and political criticism with respect to ‘terrorism’ and the government’s role, a terrorist offence in itself,” Galati added. “ So words and thoughts become an act of terrorism under this bill.”
Calling the legislation fascist and dictatorial, Galati urged Canadians to reject politicians who voted for it at the next election.
“Any MP who voted for this bill should not get a Canadian citizen’s vote,” Galati said. “Any candidate who’s running for a party who voted for this bill, should not get a Canadian citizen’s vote”
Canadians held rallies coast to coast today in a bid to stop Bill C-51, which is currently making its way through the Senate after comfortable passing in the House of Commons with Conservative and Liberal support.
The NDP and the Green Party voted against the bill that has drawn criticism from all quarters including four former prime ministers, First Nations Chiefs, legal scholars, the Canadian Bar Association representing over 36,000 lawyers, more than 100 academics, civil liberties advocates, Canada’s privacy commissioners, former justices of the Supreme Court, former attorneys general, Canadian business leaders, the union representing over 51,000 Canada Post workers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, former CSIS agents, NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden, Conrad Black, and Ralph Nader.
