Conservatives to table controversial crime laws early in agenda

MARK KENNEDY
Postmedia News

OTTAWA — The Harper government will begin its legislative assault on crime on Tuesday — with the introduction of a law-and-order bill expected to draw fierce criticism from the opposition parties.

The move will come on the second day of the fall session of Parliament, as MPs return to their seats to focus on priorities such as the economy, crime, democratic reform, copyright protections, and a Canada-U.S. perimeter security deal.

Among the most contentious of the issues will be criminal reform legislation.

On Sunday, a memo was circulated to the Conservative caucus revealing that “comprehensive legislation” — the Safe Streets and Communities Act — will be tabled Tuesday.

“It is clear that there is still far too much crime in cities and communities across Canada,” said the memo, leaked to the media.

“These tough new actions will hold criminals more accountable, help improve the safety and security of individuals, and extend greater protection to the most vulnerable members of society and victims of terrorism.”

“Canadians want and deserve to be able to feel safe in their homes and communities and that means that dangerous criminals need to be off our streets.”

The memo said that by moving quickly on the issue, the Conservative government is “fulfilling its promise to better protect families and standup for victims.”

Opposition parties are expected to strongly argue against the legislation — noting that Statistics Canada has found that there is a consistent downward trend in violent crime.

Moreover, they will argue that the Tories are leading the country toward a massive societal shift in which prisons are overcrowded and costly — an experiment they say has proven disastrous in the United States.

In the last minority Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Tories introduced a range of crime bills which withered — in part because they lacked the support of the opposition parties.

In the recent election campaign, Harper promised to bundle those 12 bills as omnibus legislation if re-elected and ensure passage within 100 sitting days of the new Parliament’s launch.

Harper was re-elected with a majority, meaning he now has the power to pass the legislation which is expected to be pulled together in a handful of thematic omnibus bills.

It wasn’t clear Sunday how much of the bill to be tabled Tuesday will incorporate the 12 bills held over from the last Parliament.

Overall, the new measures coming forward this fall will include ending house arrest of criminals, ending automatic pardons for serious crimes, cracking down on organized drug crime, protecting children from sexual predators and strengthening citizens powers to defend themselves and their property.

Under the Tories’ justice agenda, judges will lose discretion when it comes to handing down sentences, and the country’s prisons will be filled with more inmates who will spend more time there.

In July, Statistics Canada reported that there were fewer homicides, attempted murders, serious assaults and robberies across Canada in 2010, although Nunavut has the highest per capita rate of violent crime in Canada: 10,286 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 people.

Canada’s violent crime rate is only 1,282 crimes per 100,000 people, giving Nunavut a crime rate more than nine times higher than that of Canada’s.

with files from Nunatsiaq News