President-elect Donald Trump. It's still a phrase that takes some getting used to. Trump's pronouncements on issues of online privacy, surveillance and net neutrality -- among many other topics -- should send a shiver down the spine of anyone who cares about preserving basic democratic freedoms in a digital age.

For Canadians these concerns strike particularly close to home. Already, federal government ministers are grappling with the implications of the impending Trump presidency and, for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, these implications are especially profound.

It's here. Almost a year into their mandate, the Liberal government has finally launched its long-awaited public consultation on Bill C-51, and a broad range of privacy and national security issues.

Speaking at the launch, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said they had already identified a limited number of areas of Bill C-51 they wanted changed, and that they wanted to get Canadians' views on how to deal with the rest of the unpopular legislation.

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It's hard not to turn to popular culture to explain Bill C-51 and the world another Harper government will usher in. And, three references leap to mind immediately. The first is a scene in The Dark Knight Rises.

Chris Hedges' recent book is a passionate call for the "oppressed" of the Empire to revolt against the tyranny of surveillance, financial greed and propagandist journalism.

Oppression, tyranny, greed, propaganda -- these are words that seem to come straight from a communist manifesto or anarchist pamphlet. But Hedges is neither the former nor the latter. Actually, in some of his previous writing, he referred to himself as a socialist.