Adnan Gilani
December 20, 2010 | 1 Comment
An insidious piece of legislation has passed its final reading in the Senate– Bill C-36: Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA), and is waiting to receive Royal Assent.
Bill C-36, the proposed Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA), is proposed legislation that would help keep Canadian families safe from consumer products that pose an unreasonable danger.
The purpose of this legislation is to modernize and strengthen a 40-year-old product safety law……
Simply this legislation has afforded the Government, vis-à-vis Health Canada to immediately recall consumer products that are deemed to be hazardous; while the intent of the legislation seems rationale, the newly granted powers the Government has obtained are outright Orwellian.
Health Canada can now issue secret recall orders that are exempt from publication and review under the Statutory Instruments Act, which previously required the supervision and authorization of independent Courts.
Proclaiming that previous safety laws were not adequate or antiquated is extremely misleading, as our safety standards are quite stringent; the primary difference between the current legislation and its predecessor is the absence of the rule of law in the Government’s actions.
Below are concerns expressed by several Actors, in regards to Bill C-36:
“As Bill C-6 now stands, consumer safety inspectors enter our homes and seize our property, such as computers and documents, without any judicial supervision. The inspector has to show nothing more than a desire to check compliance or non-compliance with the act. This is not how our law has developed. We would essentially have no freedom and no privacy if that was the state of our law. We would be living in a police state.”
Senator Furey Referring to Bill C-6 (former Bill C-36) [2009]
“I cannot understand that the obvious is being ignored, namely that this bill attacks the rule of law, could not survive a constitutional challenge, is abusive in terms of human rights, and – worst of all – has NOTHING to do with protecting Canadians…Under the fuzzy guise of protecting Canada’s children it bamboozles the nation into cooperation.”
Helke Ferrie author, publisher
“To understand the significance of Bill C-36 it is necessary to understand the rule of law. The rule of law requires the courts to supervise any state interference with our person or our property…Throughout history significant blood has been shed to establish the rule of law under which the state cannot act as both the police and the courts… Under the rule of law if the state wants to seize your property, they can only do so with court supervision. Courts only permit interference with our person or our property according to valid laws and established legal principles.”
Shawn Buckley LL.B, Constitutional Lawyer, NHPPA President
Senator Cordy has expressed a concern about a [foreign] entity doing this for mischief reasons, for example, having a small recall in a particular area to get a competitive product off the market. That is a concern, and the real concern is that the term is not defined and thereby leaves it wide open for inspectors and government people to take actions and say that it was based on a foreign entity activity.
Senator Day Bill C-36 Third Reading 2010
“This legislation does not need to break a tradition that we have had in this country, which is to protect the civil liberties of people while we are enforcing the law. When Senator Baker read out the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada that talked about why we have these protections in our law, it was essentially to show that we not end up in a police state. There will be court challenges on this legislation.”
Senator McCoy Referring to Bill C-6 (former Bill C-36) [2009]
The impetus for the said Bill is nothing more than an attempt to institute draconian measures that will function, as a litmus test to facilitate the progression of totalitarian rule.
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December 21st, 2010 @ 3:42 am
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