The Patriot Act had a timer built in years, not days. That, coupled with foreign intrigue that kept the velocity of interest ongoing (and endless threats -some valid, some not- from said foreign actors) made extending the PA easier for a mostly neo-conservative foreign policy establishment.

It also started expiring (in sections) in 2005, with more and more being sunset through the last 2020 window. I'm not actually sure how many of it's provisions still stand, but they are a much smaller subset than the massive umbrella of powers initially approved in 2001.

It's a harder sell with a small group of noisy Peterbilt drivers in a 30 day window.

> I'm not actually sure how many of it's provisions still stand, but they are a much smaller subset than the massive umbrella of powers initially approved in 2001.

I'd be curious as to how many of those powers simply got spun out into other covering legislation/banking law. I suspect quite a few.

Particularly in the freezing of suspicious funds, AML/KYC, banking secrecy, etc. If anything I think we've ramped up the regulation and lack of due process to 11 more than de-escalated.

It's a bit stretching to take precedence from a foreign nation with different politics and different government structure.

it's a representative democracy filled with power-hungry people. the dynamics that would cause "temporary" laws to be renewed infinitely is the same. it's not like it's some quirk/loophole like filibusterers. if anything the more pragmatic (for lack of a better word) approach (as opposed to absolutist in the US) to freedom compared to the US makes it even more likely that authoritarian measures will remain.

That's an American law, not a Canadian one.