Canada's terrible proposed spying law, Bill C-30, is dead. The Harper Tories, who nailed the colours to the mast on the passage of the law, which would have given nearly unlimited access to private electronic communications to law enforcement, government, and random appointed persons, has issued a statement saying they won't reintroduce the bill. It's a humiliating climbdown and it couldn't have happened to a crummier government.

  • http://burntheflag.ca Jardine

    Sure it is. As if we’re supposed to trust the Conservative Party to keep a promise.

  • ojisan

    Ah, but it’s a poor heart that never rejoices!!

  • http://excelsior-station.wikidot.com Sarge Misfit

    “The bill, which excited outrage over possible privacy violations on the Internet, marks a legislative failure for the Harper majority government.”

    Failure for Harper? Couldn’t happen to a better government.

    And let’s not forget that its a WIN for Canadians!

    • http://daniel.friesen.name/ Daniel Friesen

       Now we just have to deal with the other two or three heads things that have popped up in place of this one.

  • Daemonworks

    “Majority” in that the majority of Canadians voted against them. Man, I hope we get a real electoral system some day.

    • RedMonkey

      The last elected government that had a “Majority” of the popular vote was Mulroney (a conservative) in 1984, so are you saying that every government we’ve had since 1988 is illegitimate, since no one has won the popular vote?  That’s pretty hard to do in a five-party system. 

      • http://twitter.com/ManekiNico Maneki Nico

        Well, illegitimate-ish anyway.

      • Ryan Lenethen

        I think what they are trying to say is that many votes don’t get recognized due to the first past the post system. That proportional representation or a hybrid would be preferable. As it is, those that can win without “majority” see no need to push the issue (see Conservatives and Liberals), and if you are not in power it is pretty hard to change the electoral system. It is setup to fail (if you win using the current system, why the hell would you change it?). That said, with the absolute beating the liberals took last time, it might have some more traction there among the liberal vote now. However with how well the NDP did, it would be interesting to see how true they hold to their electoral reform dogma. I mean look at the Conservatives and the Senate. All the did was bitch about it while out of power, now that they control it, its the largest ever.

        However you are correct in a multi-party system, it would be a rare landslide victory for a true populus majority win. However there is the majority of counted votes, but there there are the even greater value of all those votes that are pretty much just thrown away.

  • charliekrustovnovitchgeschalt

    C-30 is dead. Good. Don’t forget to go over the newly introduced followup C-55 with a fine-toothed comb:

    http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=5975313&File=4

  • http://twitter.com/agger_modspil Carsten Agger
  • Rickenbacker4001

    I guess they are siding with the pedophiles……

  • squintsideways

    They are still trying in the UK too.  Will none of these politicians listen?

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/11/verdict-snoopers-charter-start-of-longer-battle

  • quean

    Don’t know the details, but it sounds like it’s just been rolled over into Bill C-55 with a few minor modifications…

  • Jorpho

    It’s something of a relief to know that a majority government isn’t entirely willing to stomp all over everyone when they feel like it.

  • elix

    I’m hoping that the tea-party-of-the-north faction that’s trying to reopen the abortion debate in Canada (so they can ban it) wrecks the CPC as much as it did the GOP’s 2012 election campaign. However, I’m not sure that I want to vote NDP, and while the Liberals are saying things I like, they’re so tiny they can say whatever the hell they want and it basically won’t matter.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2X6OHAN7GLVLAIP4QLECKD3NY4 morgane

    man i loathe Harper and his gang. If there’s a referendum while he’s Prime Minister, i’ll vote OUI. The tories are at 15% in Québec and only have 5 seats. If they win again in 2015, blame Ontario.

    By the way, not on topic but… If Cardinal Marc Ouellet (a local) gets to be Pope (he’s a top 5 candiate), the catholics will get someone to the RIGHT of Benedict. True! When he was Archbishop of Québec a few years ago, he ranted about abortion not being tolerable even in the case of a rape to a minor. He so angered people here that the Church decided to send him to Rome…and now he could be top dog. Fuck him.

  • http://twitter.com/scott7ree Scott

    This is the sign of a good government.  A bad gov’t wouldn’t listen to public.