The Conservative party has quietly shelved Bill C-30, the Internet surveillance act Toews once asserted was vital to cracking down on kiddie porn. The bill is unlikely to resurface before the summer recess. In fact, it may never come back at all, wrote John Ibbitson in Tuesday’s Globe:
If the Harper government still wants to pass a law that would make it easier for police to track people who use the web to commit crimes, it will have to start from scratch.
That new bill, if there is one, will probably be shepherded by a different minister. That’s how much damage this botched legislation inflicted on the government and on Mr. Toews.
Ibbitson believes the prime minister is likely to prorogue Parliament before holding the debate necessary to send the bill to committee. If that happens, the so-called “lawful access” bill dies and the Tories start over, possibly with a new public safety minister to shepherd it through Parliament and the court of public opinion.