Michael Geist reports that the Liberals plan on reintroducing lawful access by means of a private member’s bill. The move is part of the Liberals’ effort to appear “tough on crime” in advance of an anticipated spring election. My hunch is that, unless an election interferes, the Tories will either support the bill or try to steal the Liberals’ thunder with proposals of their own.

Geist quotes this speech by Liberal leader Stephane Dion:

Marlene Jennings, the Liberal justice critic, is re-introducing the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act. This bill will allow the police and Canadian intelligence community to adapt to new communications technology. Telephone and Internet service providers will be required, subject to vigorous privacy safeguards, to include an interception capability in new technology, and make subscriber contact information available on request to designated law enforcement officials. This act strikes the right balance between the needs of police and industry, while respecting Canadians’ right to privacy.

That last sentence in particular makes me snicker. Note how citizens’ interests are an afterthought: it’s police and telecom interests that are the priority here, as usual for lawful access policy. (In the last round of stakeholder consultations, for example, business interests got plenty of input into the lawful access policy proposals. By contrast, civil society groups got one meeting in which the proposals were outlined for them, and then a laughably short two-week window in which to submit their comments.)

I’ll have a more substantive post on lawful access — what it is, what’s wrong with it, and past attempts to legislate it — in the near future.