OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected calls for more political oversight of broad new spy and police powers, saying his Conservative government has “strengthened” oversight by turning to Canada’s judges.

Speaking in Surrey, B.C. Harper shrugged off calls by four former prime ministers and a growing chorus of critics who want a more robust role for parliamentarians in guarding against potential future abuses by security agencies.

The NDP and Liberals and now a group of 22 prominent Canadians have called for the establishment of a committee of elected officials that would oversee CSIS’ exercise of its proposed new mandate to disrupt emerging terror threats — as exists in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

On Thursday, Harper said the current watchdog agency, SIRC, already provides “independent expert third-party advice” about CSIS’s compliance with the law. He said Bill C-51, a sweeping bill that expands CSIS powers, would require CSIS to get a warrant from a judge on a case-by-case basis if its actions to disrupt threats will violate constitutional rights.

“We as a government are not interested in politicians doing that oversight,” said Harper.

Other senior Conservative ministers echoed the prime minister’s new line of defence, cited the evolving “mutating” threat, and broad public support for the bill reported by pollster Angus Reid.

Canada faces a “high probability” of a jihadist attack from homegrown terrorists, Defence Minister Jason Kenney warned Thursday as he defended the bill and hinted Ottawa will extend the military mission in Iraq.

In his first major address since taking over the national defence portfolio 10 days ago, Kenney said that while risk of conventional war has diminished, “the threat of terrorism has never been greater.”

Harper and Kenney spoke as the government voted to limit the initial debate in the Commons on the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act 2015. Bill C-51 would give CSIS agents broad new powers to actively disrupt suspected threats to Canada’s national security; criminalize the “promotion of terrorism,” ease the government’s ability to ban suspects from airline travel, and provide greater protection to secret witnesses and classified evidence. It would allow more information sharing among 17 federal agencies related to any “activity that undermines the security of Canada” — a definition the NDP says is overly broad and could be used to target First Nations and environmentalists, or the government’s political enemies.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday “they are not going to be targeted.”

Critics of Bill C-51 now include four former prime ministers among 22 prominent Canadians — former Supreme Court of Canada judges, ministers of justice and public safety, solicitors general, members of SIRC, the Security and Intelligence Review Committee that oversees CSIS, and commissioners responsible for overseeing the RCMP and upholding privacy laws. They signed an open letter Thursday to argue that although the safety of Canadians is a “one of the government’s most important functions,” new powers demand stronger security oversight.

“Oversight and review mechanisms are necessary to make sure that powers are being exercised lawfully, and that government officials are not called upon to undertake activities that might expose them or Canada to legal liability either at home or abroad,” they wrote.

More lawyers and academics published new critiques of the bill’s impact on Canadian privacy rights and rights to due process. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist said the bill could have a “disastrous” impact on privacy rights. Lawyers Clayton Ruby and Nader Hasan wrote for the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives that: “These proposed laws are misguided, and many of them are likely also unconstitutional. The bill ought to be rejected as a whole. Repair is impossible.”

Kenney said the concerns are “much exaggerated” and called the bill a “balanced approach.”

Kenney told reporters the bill “doesn’t give new power to police or intelligence agencies but rather to judges, to courts, who, for example, can order the detention of a suspected terrorist for up to seven days. We thinking that’s entirely reasonable and the vast majority of Canadians agree with us.”

House leader Peter Van Loan said the government trusted judges more than any committee of elected politicians.

“We actually think that will be more effective” to give “before-the-fact” oversight of CSIS actions to judges than “after-the-fact” review to elected politicians that would merely “duplicate the work” of SIRC, said Van Loan.

Liberal justice critic Sean Casey scoffed at the irony of a Conservative government that routinely limits judicial discretion through mandatory minimum sentences now turning to them: “Why is it that these judges that cannot be trusted to impose a proper sentence are the only ones who should be oversight of our national security?” he asked.

Kenney told reporters the Harper cabinet will soon consider options to renew the military mission against ISIL, now due to end in early April, and bring that before Parliament.

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He hinted strongly that Canada will remain engaged in some form and said one question on the table is whether the government provides arms to Kurds and Iraqis fighting the extremists.

“Let’s be clear — this government is committed to playing a meaningful role in the fight against ISIS because it constitutes a threat to not just Middle Eastern security but global, including Canadian security,” he said.

“We think it’s a matter of national interest that we be there, and exactly how or for what duration we have not decided,” Kenney said.

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