I got an alarming email in my inbox today. It was couched in the language of “grave threats to our freedom” and “act now before it’s too late” kind of talk. The item in question is a proposed bill in parliament, Bill C-6. One of the lines in my email reads, “Why do bureaucrats need to bypass the Parliament and Senate approval process to create new laws? These processes are open and visible to public scrutiny. What don’t they want us to see?” (font-size and bold all theirs). I’m skeptical, and the line “what don’t they want us to see” reeks of conspiracy theory-thinking to me. The person who allegedly wrote this email warning was “WRITTEN BY HEALTH CANADA AGENT WHO RESIGNED “. rrrrrright.

Well, I read the bill. You can too. I hate to say it, but the alarmists might have something here. I suppose it’s okay to be alarmist when something alarming is happening. This is a bill that is ostensibly introduced to provide for the government a more effective mechanism to oversee product safety in Canada. Seems good, eh? After all the bisphenol A stuff, Listeria outbreaks, lead in Chinese toys, and poisonous pet-food, it seems like not a single soul is out there looking out for the safety of the consumer. After all, we’re taught from birth that our country depends on us being good little acquiescent consumers who don’t think or question: just buy. What happens if what we buy starts killing us and ours? A bill like this is overdue.

However, some very tricksy little tidbits that don’t seem entirely necessary or on the level have sneaked their way into this bill, and it provides the government, and any corporation which the government uses in relation, with enormous powers of search and seizure, and the disclosing of personal information.

Not everyone wants to navigate through the dry language of a proposed bill, so I can point out just a few of the suspicious passages (emphasis mine):

In the preamble:
Whereas the Parliament of Canada recognizes
that a lack of full scientific certainty is not to be
used as a reason for postponing measures that
prevent adverse effects on human health if those
effects could be serious or irreversible;

Section 2, which outlines the definitions for the remainder of the bill, defines “government” as (among other things),
(e)a government of a foreign state or a
subdivision of a foreign state; or (f)an
international organization of states” (Remember that, it comes up later.)

Sections 15-16, which outlines disclosure of information
15. The Minister may disclose personal
information to a person or a government that
carries out functions relating to the protection of
human health or safety without the consent of
the individual to whom the personal information
relates if the disclosure is necessary to identify
or address a serious danger to human health or
safety.

16. “The Minister may disclose confidential
business information to a person or a government
that carries out functions relating to the
protection of human health or safety or the
environment — in relation to a consumer
product — without the consent of the person
to whose business or affairs the information
relates and without notifying that person if the
person to whom or government to which the
information may be disclosed agrees in writing
to maintain the confidentiality of the information
and to use it only for the purpose of
carrying out those functions.

Section 36, subsection (2), which deals with the regulations of externally produced material:
A regulation made under this Act may
incorporate by reference documents produced
by a person or body other than the Minister
including by
(b) an industrial or trade organization; or
(c) a government.
and subsection (4):
(4) A regulation made under this Act may
incorporate by reference documents that the
Minister produces jointly with another government
for the purpose of harmonizing the
regulation with other laws.

That’s enough bill talk for now, hopefully you’re still reading.

What this means is that the government can override existing Health Canada regulations and freely pass around personal and business information to any foreign state or corporation used by a domestic or foreign state. Health Canada regulations are notoriously stringent for having pesky little things like scientific proof, proper trials and safety protocols. This bill would allow producers to rush-to Canadian markets if a foreign state (say, the United States?) says it’s okay.

I don’t know about you, but this frightens me.

If you don’t want the Ministry of Health to hire a private company to act on its behalf, collect and distribute your personal information without your a)approval and b) knowledge, then contact your MP. If you don’t want your pharmaceuticals to have the same lackadaisical standards of safety and efficacy that the United States has, contact your MP.

Canadians, our government is trying to legislate our own sovereignty away from us. The time for complacency is over.

Related posts:

1. Bill 139 Will Finally Regulate Temporary Employment Agencies For decades the growth of temporary employment agencies has had...
2. Bill to Abolish Long-Gun Registry in Canada Passes Second Reading in the House of Commons Yesterday’s sitting in the House of Commons to scrap the...
3. Supreme Court of Canada Renders Quebec’s Bill 104 Unconstitutional On October 22 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada judged...
4. Fading Ideology of Justice from Government Partially to Blame for Recent Torture Implications in Afghanistan Once upon a time, many years ago, Canada was a...

Tags: bill c-6, consumer safety

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 9:35 am and is filed under Federal Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.