Public safety minister wants police search powers bill to become law by June 19

Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 11, 2026. Photo by Blair Gable /Postmedia

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OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says he wants his embattled bill facilitating police and intelligence agencies’ ability to intercept and collect personal information to be law by June 19.

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“My expectation is to get it done before we rise. I want this as law before we rise,” Anandasangaree told National Post Wednesday about his Bill C-22.

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With the House of Commons set to rise for the summer break on June 19, the minister’s ambitious timeline for the controversial bill suggests he’ll be pressuring both the Commons public safety committee (which is currently studying the bill) and then the Senate to move quickly.

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“I’m known as an optimist,” Anandasangaree noted during the interview while arguing that police and intelligence forces are telling him they needed the changes in Bill C-22 “yesterday”.

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That doesn’t mean the bill will remain untouched, though, as the minister promised amendments to address growing privacy and security concerns about the legislation.

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Whether opposition parties — who have all decried the limited number of committee meetings to study the bill and expressed profound discomfort with the current bill — and the Senate play ball with the minister’s timeline is a completely different question.

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Already on Tuesday, the Conservatives tabled a motion at the public safety committee to extend the study on Bill C-22 for another eight hours in order to hear a coterie of other ministers and experts. Witness hearings on the bill are expected to wrap up Thursday evening.

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Conservative MP Frank Caputo and Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille accused the Liberals Tuesday of trying to “ram” the legislation through committee and not giving MPs enough time to study the contentious bill.

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In the interview, Anandasangaree also argued that threats from certain tech companies such as Signal or NordVPN that they may leave Canada if the bill passes are “overstated.”

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“Essentially, every major democratic jurisdiction has a similar framework,” he said of lawful access regimes.

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Bill C-22 proposes a new lawful access regime which would make it easier for police and intelligence agencies to intercept private communications or personal data as part of their investigations.

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Lawful access is one of the most intrusive powers afforded to police and intelligence agencies. Creating such a regime for the digital age in Canada has been the subject of fierce debate for decades.

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Bill C-22 proposes that police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) be able to approach telecommunications companies and ask them if, yes or no, an individual is a client before having to get a warrant for more information. It then sets out a new path for authorities to obtain client information from the companies with the appropriate warrant.