The Liberals have been trying for over a year to get several pieces of crime legislation passed quickly. The Conservative government has been doing everything in its power to block its own legislation so they can turn around and say it's the fault of the Liberals. This strategy is so ludicrous that the Conservatives themselves laugh at it.
Official Opposition Moves to Prevent Government from Stalling Crime LegislationOctober 21, 2007OTTAWA – While the Conservative government is focused exclusively on exploiting criminal justice issues for partisan gain, the Liberal Party is again renewing its efforts to actually pass legislation that would protect Canadian communities as quickly as possible, said Liberal Justice Critic Marlene Jennings today.
“On Thursday, the government proposed legislation to supposedly tackle violent crime, but, in effect, their new bill will actually delay implementation of these measures, since most of what is included in their bill has already passed through the House of Commons thanks to the efforts of the Official Opposition,” said Ms. Jennings.
To prevent another Conservative procedural roadblock, the Official Opposition will propose that all parties agree that the bill be deemed adopted at second reading so it can move immediately to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice. This is yet another in a long string of offers that the Liberal Party has made to advance the Conservative government’s justice legislation.
The new Tackling Violent Crime Bill (Bill C-2) is simply an amalgamation of five pieces of justice legislation that were introduced by the Conservatives in the last session. The five bills dealt with mandatory minimum sentences (C-10), the age of consent (C-22), the dangerous offender regime (C-27), impaired driving (C-32) and bail reform (C-35). All five of those bills have already passed second reading in the House of Commons.
“By re-introducing these rolled together as a new bill, they’re discarding the work already done, slowing down the process, and, worst of all, misleading Canadians who clearly want to see this legislation passed,” said Ms. Jennings.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve attempted to move on this file, contrary to the statements by the Minister of Justice. Our first offer was made over a year ago. Back in March, we proposed one of our own Opposition Days to pass the government’s bills, but were blocked by procedural tricks by this government,” said Ms. Jennings.
“This is further proof while the government makes threats, we make progress.”
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