Liberals blow past deadline to review major national security law
Bill C-59 changed Canada's national security landscape, creating the CSE Act, giving CSIS new powers and creating civilian oversight for the first time.
The Liberal government in Canada has failed to meet its own deadline to review a major national security law called Bill C-59, which was enacted in June 2019. This legislation significantly altered Canada's security and intelligence agencies, giving them expanded powers and establishing civilian review and oversight for the first time.
The Liberal party had stipulated that Parliament must review the new national security regime within four years, by 2023. However, this deadline has now passed with no review conducted. Documents obtained by Global News reveal that the chair of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) raised the missed deadline with the Public Safety Minister in a November 2025 meeting.
Despite this, Anandasangaree's office stated it is not their responsibility to initiate the review, as the power lies with Parliament. The government remains committed to supporting Parliament in this endeavor, but the chair of the House of Commons' public safety committee responsible for the review, Jean-Yves Duclos, did not comment.
Experts argue that the missed deadline points to a lack of national security interest among successive federal governments. National security legislation in Canada often follows crises, such as the 9/11 attacks, the Conservatives' Bill C-51 after the 2014 attack on Parliament, and the Liberals' response with C-59. Review fatigue has set in due to recent high-profile public inquiries into law enforcement and national security agencies.
Canada's main intelligence agency, CSIS, has been pleading for a review of the legislation that governs its operations for years, but this request has gone unmet since the 1980s. CSIS's operations are now outdated, as they were established before the modern internet era. The CSE Act, which governs the agency, is now eight years old and needs to be updated to address evolving threats, including those driven by AI and concerns about national sovereignty.
A parliamentary review of the national security legislation would be comprehensive and assess the impact of C-59 on CSIS, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the interaction between these agencies and newly created civilian review bodies.
Written by urgent.news from Global News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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