Article content continued

“As the party of the Charter, as the party that has always understood how important people’s rights and freedoms are, as someone who has demonstrated it on a wide range of issues throughout my leadership, we will move on it very quickly,” he said.

Yet those rights and freedoms were not quite important enough to justify taking a stand against the bill when the opportunity presented itself. By Trudeau’s reckoning the New Democrats — who did take that stand — are just playing politics. As are the Conservatives for taking the position they did. Only the Liberals, it would appear, are being honest — by backing a bill they don’t support.

The inability to nail down just where the Liberals stand may be a key reason their support has been slipping while the NDP’s grows. Trudeau’s reluctance to oppose C-51 appears to have been motivated by a very political calculation, the fear that Harper would adroitly use it to paint the Liberals as soft on terrorism. Rather than confront that battle head-on, he sought to slip past it, supporting the bill while pledging to change it. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair knew he was risking a similar attack when he pledged his party would oppose the bill, but indicated he was prepared to defend the decision.

Should the Liberals fail to form the government, of course, their pledge to improve the bill becomes moot, while its provisions remain law. Liberal candidate David MacLeod, a 27-year Canadian Forces veteran, recognized this when he stepped down as Liberal candidate in the riding of Central Nova in protest over the C-51 vote. “I kept waiting for a political sleight of hand, a political manoeuvre,” he said. “That didn’t materialize and instead, they voted for the bill. That really surprised me.”