Madam Speaker, I would like to point out that the legislation and these provisions were actually enacted, as I stated quite openly and freely, by a Liberal government back in 2001. I was one of the members of Parliament at the time who sat on the committee reviewing the Anti-terrorism Act and therefore had a certain amount of impact.
I take note of the point that the member made, which I as well attempted to make, and that is a responsible and competent government does not govern or enact policies out of fear. I believe she would understand that there was a great deal of fear back in 2001, but calm heads did prevail and made the point that these were draconian measures, that we were not satisfied that the case had been made that they would ultimately be required, that our existing Criminal Code and laws would not be sufficient.
As a result of that, the Liberal government listened. It listened to the experts, to the members of the House of Commons, who had these concerns and preoccupations, and agreed to put a sunset clause in the bill. The sunset clause was over five years later. If the government did not re-enact it, the provisions automatically died, and they died under the Conservative government. That government said that it was important to revive these provisions, knowing full well they had never been used. However, it has never provided, as my colleague said, any cogent evidence to support its claim that these provisions are absolutely needed.
The member asks how my party can support this. My party is a responsible party. We have heard experts in the past, some who have said the provisions may be needed, others who have said they may not be needed. We would like the debate to continue on this. The only way for it to continue and to hear from all stakeholders, including individuals who may have been targeted by the existing and still active provisions of the anti-terrorism bill, is to come before the House of Commons to speak of their experiences and give us the evidence either in favour of or opposed to so each individual elected to the House can make a cogent choice.
I have no shame in saying that my party has decided it will allow this to go to committee. It does not mean that we are in support of the provisions being re-enacted. We want to hear what the stakeholders and experts have to say because the government certainly has not made a case for it yet.