Liberal-dominated committee rejecting many proposed changes to security bill
Bill would create new civilian watchdog to review security and intelligence agencies
The Liberal government sent its sweeping security bill for study by MPs at an early stage, along with the suggestion it would be open to changes.
But so far it has been mostly tweaks and tucks as the House of Commons public safety and national security committee goes through the legislation, clause by clause.
The Ottawa-based Independent Civil Liberties Monitoring Group was hoping to see several amendments, including measures to strengthen the independence of new security review bodies.
New Democrat public safety critic Matthew Dubé plans to put forward proposed changes to rein in the use of publicly available information by security agencies and the ability to wage offensive cyber-operations.
The NDP also wants an end to powers that allow the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to disrupt terrorist plots, not just gather information about them.
The Liberal legislation, tabled in June, fleshes out campaign promises to revise elements of a contentious omnibus bill brought in by the Harper government after a gunman stormed Parliament Hill in October 2014.