A contentious Liberal bill that would give U.S. border agents authority to conduct extreme pre-screening of people and goods going from Canada into the U.S. won overwhelming support in one of its final tests in the Senate today.

A combination of Independent and Conservative senators overwhelmingly rejected amendments centring on the constitutional rights of Canadian citizens in a decisive 59-16 vote Thursday.

The proposed amendments from Liberal Senator Serge Joyal were centred on objections to the legislation from multiple human rights and civil liberties advocates who opposed the sweeping powers that would be given to U.S. border agents to frisk, screen and question travellers before they leave Canadian territory.

As part of reciprocal arrangements inside the U.S., Canadian border agents would be allowed to do the same kind of clearance screening south of the border, for travellers and cargo heading into Canada.

Although at least one other senator — newly appointed Independent Marilou McPhedran — also planned to table amendments, the sheer scope of Joyal’s defeat indicates the bill could go through its final debate stage before Parliament adjourns for a winter recess next week.

But with evidence against the bill reaching a mountainous scale as it went through witness hearings at the Senate National Security and Defence Committee, nothing can likely be guaranteed.

The bill, introduced after the U.S. and Canada negotiated a new regime to replace the existing pre-clearance system, would allow armed U.S. custom guards to conduct metric screening and physical examinations — including excrement examination — should they suspect from questioning travellers that an attempt to smuggle something into the U.S. is taking place.

Committee witnesses warned of the effect U.S. President Donald Trump’s posture toward aliens and incomers could have under the sweeping changes contained in the bill.

Joyal, in a brief speech prior to the vote on his amendments, cautioned that the U.S. scrutiny will be even more intense once Parliament passes a government bill, C-45, that would lead to the legalization of cannabis in Canada by July 1, 2018.

“I want just to alert you that when C-45 is adopted, believe me, the extreme vetting at the border that the present American government wants to perform, especially if you are a youngster, you know, with long hair, you know the look that I am thinking about, you’re immediately suspected,” Joyal said.

“This is a very immediate, serious issue,” Joyal said.

“I’m not dreaming about this.”

“Let’s make sure, honourable senators, that this bill is Charter proof and we’re not finding ourselves in a nightmare the second of July, or the first July, when those youngsters will flock to customs,” Joyal warned.

Federal Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien told the committee a State Immunity Act Parliament passed in 1985 could lead to U.S customs officers conducting searches outside the reasonable belief requirements found in Canadian law.

Therrien recommended an amendment to prevent that, but the Senate committee speedily passed the bill through its final clause-by-clause stage this week with no amendments.

“In the absence of that amendment, the American officer can proceed to a search without any legal grounds whatsoever,” Therrien said.

Michael Greene, representing the immigration law section of the Canadian Bar Association, says that U.S. customs officers could act outside the restrictions of Canada’s Charter of Rights because the actions of the officers would not be subject to Federal Court review in Canada.

“You have heard it said several times just in the last session that there are supposed rights, so the bill actually says that the Constitution of Canada — the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian law — applies,” Greene said.

“But the fact is there is absolutely no way of enforcing that; none whatsoever in there. There is no way for review,” Greene testified.

A board member of the Canadian Muslim Association said Trump’s policies and executive orders regarding foreign nationals in the U.S, and immigration have created an atmosphere that would exacerbate the intensity of U.S. screening under the new pre-clearance regime.

“The population that our organization represents is going to be, undeniably, the most targeted by any changes on the pre-clearance areas,” said Pantea Jafari, representing the association at the same witness hearing.

“When President Trump says ’extreme vetting,’ that is what is happening already. That is leading to mothers wanting to buy toys for their kids across the border being questioned to no end, for six or seven hours, and then being denied entry,” Jafari said.