WINNIPEG – A Conservative MP is being ridiculed for a pamphlet that suggests anyone who doesn’t agree with the Harper government’s proposed anti-terrorist legislation must sympathize with terrorists.
Lawrence Toet, the Conservative MP for the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood-Transcona, sent the mailer to constituents to promote Bill C-51. It asks what readers think about the bill, with only two possible answers:
“I agree with my MP Lawrence Toet! We must take additional action to protect Canada from terrorism.
“I disagree! Terrorists are victims too.”
The loaded question was called out by pollster Curtis Brown of Winnipeg’s Probe Research, who posted it on Twitter:
The proposed anti-terror Bill C-51 would give CSIS the ability to disrupt terror plots, make it easier for police to limit the movements of a suspect, expand no-fly list powers, and remove barriers to sharing security-related information.
Critics have said the new powers go too far and would trample civil liberties, which the Harper government has denied.
Toet’s with-us-or-against-us survey question sparked mockery on the social media site Reddit:
Do you believe in mandatory sentencing?
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- Yes! Justice is important to me.
- No! I believe that child molesters should be allowed into pre schools at will.
Do you believe the Keystone pipeline is in Canada’s best interests?
- Yes! It will create thousands of jobs.
- No! I am an environmental terrorist and should be put in prison
Will you be voting for Stephen Harper next election?
- Yes, I want Canadians to be safe.
- No, I like ISIS.
Do you believe that pot laws are too lax?
- Yes. Pot opens the gateway to other drugs.
- JIHAD! Baba yetu, yetu uliye mbinguni yetu, yetu amina!
In Ottawa Wednesday, federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair called Toet’s mail-out “ludicrous, divisive.”
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