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The government is being challenged over its repeated claim that its divisive security bill, C-51, will upgrade Canada’s spy agency powers to those of our closest allies.

Not so, says Craig Forcese, a national security law expert and leading critic of the proposed legislation.

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“I believe these claims to be incorrect, or at least require substantial nuancing,” he writes in the respected National Security Law blog.

When the Conservatives unveiled the legislation Jan. 30, a government backgrounder noted that “intelligence services in most of Canada’s close democratic allies have had similar mandates and powers for many years.”

Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney has repeated it many times, as have other Conservative MPs.

Forcese recently reviewed national security law in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and spoke with experts. He concludes that “none of our ‘Five Eye’ allies have seen fit to give their domestic covert service the power to do things domestically that the government wants CSIS to do in Canada.