Beyond the boundaries

I'm not quite sure what's worse: CSIS' apparent history of acting outside the scope of its statutory powers, or the Liberals defending the practice only after the fact:

As part of the listing process, CSIS prepares a security intelligence report on possible additions to the terrorist roster. The Public Safety minister then makes a recommendation to cabinet as to whether the group should be included.

The review committee said this kind of activity is not accounted for in the CSIS Act, the law governing the spy agency...

A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said the government rejects the argument that CSIS's involvement in the listing process unduly expands the service's scope of activity.

The article also indicates that CSIS hasn't been providing full reports to its watchdog agency (as it used to in the past).

It's bad enough to have a government agency tacitly approving of the use of torture as CSIS appears to have done. But even if that weren't a problem, there's no reason at all for an expansion of CSIS' powers based at best on a 14-year-old ministerial directive, and at worst on nothing but the bare assertion that the powers are needed for reasons which can't even be shared with CSIS' supervising agency.

If the Liberals truly feel that policy needs to be changed in order to meet national security goals, then that should be dealt with in Parliament...or at the very least through new public announcements or regulations. And that policy should at least be subject to a full review from the agency charged with the task.

Instead, the Libs' reluctance to present and defend CSIS' expanded powers publicly makes it seem all too likely that there isn't much defence to be mounted at all. And that has to leave Canadians wondering just how much hidden authority CSIS may hold.