Internet surveillance bill not dead, Toews says

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is denying reports that the Harper government intends to quietly shelve itscontroversial online surveillance bill, C-30.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Toewsinsisted the legislationwas moving ahead.

"Our government has been very clear, that matter will be referred to a parliamentary committee. In fact we made it clear that legislation would proceed to committee prior to second reading," Toews said.

Toews can move to sendthe legislationto committee for review before any House debate on the bill, but he has not done that yet in the Commons.

C-30 issimilarto earlier legislationthat had died on the order paper, butgoes further in its enforcement measures.

But theConservatives faced criticism not only from the opposition benches but also inside their own caucusabout privacy concernswith the bill.

In February, shortly after the bill was introduced,Toews told CBC Newsthat he was surprised to hear criticismthat a section of C-30 provides for "exceptional circumstances" under which "any police officer" can request customer information from a telecommunications service provider.Toews said in his opinion, it shouldn'textend police powers in that way.

The committee's review is expected toprovide the government with an opportunity to amend the legislation.

When the bill was introduced in February, Toews said the legislation was necessary to protect Canadians from child pornography and organized crime. But although it mentions protecting children from predators in its title, there's no mention of child pornography in itsactual text.

In the heat of the early debate on the bill, Toews told Liberal public safety critic Francis Scarpaleggia he could "either stand with us or with the child pornographers."

Twosocial media protests online one using theTwitter hashtag#tellviceverything, and the other using the Twitter account@vikileaks30 tocirculate personal details from the minister's divorce filesraised awareness and mobilized concern about the bill.

Review delayed until fall

On Wednesday, Toewstold reportersthat it's the "house leader's responsibility" to decide when the legislation proceeds to committee, but the government is"intent on proceeding."

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan'soffice says the Commons is expected to rise on June 22 forsummer recess, and until then the government is focusing on economic legislation.

The Commons committee's review of C-30 isn't expectedto start until the fall.

The governmentcould prorogue Parliament at some point over the next year, allowing some bills to die on the order paper. If that happened, the government could deliver a new Throne Speech and make a fresh start with a new legislative agenda, moving on from recent controversies.

Toews mentioned thatthe recent Queen's Speech in the British Parliament indicatedBritain would be bringing forward legislationsimilar to the Harper government'sonline surveillance bill.

"This is legislation that civilized, democratic countries around theworld recognize is important in order to deal withsome very significant problems," Toews said.