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The Official Opposition, the NDP, has said it will fight the bill as overly broad and lacking any additional independent oversight to ensure the newly empowered federal police and spies operate within the law.

Harper’s absence from the first two days of debate was explained in an email from PMO spokesman Carl Vallée: “The prime minister has spoken at length with regards to the bill when it was announced and in the House during Question Period.”

Harper unveiled the contents of the bill at a Jan. 30 event in Richmond Hill, Ont. – far away from the House of Commons. He was flanked by senior ministers MacKay, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and Julian Fantino, associate minister of National Defence. The bill was tabled in the House the same day.

“We were treated to an election campaign-style announcement hundreds of kilometres away from Parliament, and that revealed their deepest thoughts. This is all a political game to them,” NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said this week.

Both he Liberal leader Justin Trudeau spoke during the first day of debate. The government led off its side of the debate with a statement from Blaney.

Harper has taken questions about Bill C-51 at public events.

For example, responding to a reporter’s question Thursday in Surrey, B.C., , Harper categorically rejected the demands to add provisions to the bill to expand independent oversight of the expanded investigative powers C-51 gives to the RCMP, Canada’s spy agency and 15 other government departments.

“The model we have in Canada of independent, expert oversight – that’s the model we’re pursuing,” he said, rejecting calls for increased oversight by a committee of parliamentarians, similar to what’s done in Britain and the United States.

imacleod@ottawacitizen.com

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