TORONTO – While Ottawa has faced a fierce backlash over a new online surveillance bill, a new poll suggests that a majority of Canadians are in favour the contentious proposal.

Fifty-six per cent of Canadians say they support Bill C-30 as it stands, and a minority – 21 per cent – oppose the measures introduced by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, results of an exclusive poll for Global News and Postmedia News revealed Tuesday.

Bill C-30 sparked controversy on Parliament Hill and in the online realm in the past few weeks, as critics of the proposed law targeted Toews while experts suggested it was too intrusive and would invade Canadians’ privacy.

The dense piece of legislation would make it easier for the federal government and law enforcement authorities to access personal information of any Canadian using the Internet without requiring a warrant.

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Bill C-30, formerly called the “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act,” would force Internet service providers to hand over a person’s name, home and email addresses to the government, RCMP, CSIS or even the Competition Bureau. But individuals do not have the right to know their information was tapped.

The bill – and Toews – was thrown into a firestorm of public outcry after the minister told a critic of the bill that he “can stand with us or with the child pornographers.”

Turns out, almost half of Canadians – 49 per cent – agree that those who oppose Bill C-30 as it currently stands are actually enabling child pornographers while the other – 51 per cent – disagree with the notorious statement.

Poll results varied based on demographics and how often respondents used the Internet. Those who strongly opposed the bill – 21 per cent – outnumber those who strongly support it – 15 per cent. Women – 65 per cent – are more likely than men to stand behind the bill, while parents of kids 17 and under – 64 per cent – favoured the bill more than those without kids in the household.

Respondents who said they use the Internet “all the time” were least likely to support the legislation.

While most respondents said they support the bill, 80 per cent reported that they felt the bill could lead to government or police officials spying on Canadians for reasons unrelated to the realm of illegal activity. About 20 per cent said they didn’t think this is a possibility.

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Overall, just over half of Canadians – 54 per cent – said they believe that current laws governing privacy on the Internet are sufficient, while another 35 per cent said they’re too relaxed. Only 11 per cent said that they’re too strict right now.

The poll’s findings also include:

– 23 per cent of Canadians say they support legislation that “would enable police to access their subscriber information, such as their name and address, without a warrant.” This is the provision that is striking the most public outcry. Seventy-seven per cent of Canadians oppose police having this type of authority.

– Six in 10 Canadians support a law that would allow police, with a warrant, to access what users do on the Internet, such as emails of web-surfing activity.

– Seventy-five per cent of respondents said that they support legislation that helps police gather information on suspected criminals.

Between Feb. 24 and Feb. 27, 1,018 Canadian adults were interviewed online for the Ipsos Reid survey, which was weighted to bring it into line with Canadian demographics.

Nationally, a survey of this type has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

