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Canada’s privacy watchdog has delivered a scathing critique of the Conservative government’s sweeping anti-terror law, calling the proposed legislation “excessive” and raising concerns that “all Canadians would be caught in this web.”

In a submission to the Commons’ public safety committee Friday, released four days before MPs are to begin hearings on Bill C-51, federal Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien raised serious concerns about information-sharing provisions in the proposed legislation.

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“Clearly protecting the security of Canadians is important, and we recognize that greater information sharing may sometimes lead to the identification and suppression of security threats,” Therrien wrote.

“However, the scale of information sharing being proposed is unprecedented, the scope of the new powers conferred by the Act is excessive, particularly as these powers affect ordinary Canadians, and the safeguards protecting against unreasonable loss of privacy are seriously deficient.