Responding to critics that include four former prime ministers and a group of “22 prominent Canadians,” backed by the NDP and Liberals, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a speech in Surrey, BC, that he has already strengthened oversight of CSIS’s spying powers to the proper amount, The Star reports. He argued the current watchdog agency, SIRC, is already sufficient for keeping CSIS in check, that Bill C-51 would require CSIS to get a warrant on a case-by-case basis and that Parliament is not the proper body to provide oversight. “We as a government are not interested in politicians doing that oversight,” he said. The debate heard from a new voice this week, as well, as Defence Minister Jason Kenney warned of a “high probability” of a jihadist attack in Canada in his first major public speech.
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