OP-ED Piece: “Conservative government’s crime legislation held up by opposition”

February 23, 2007

as published in Niagara This Week

Parliament recently recognized Justice Week in the House of Commons, an initiative put forward by Canada’s New Government to crack down on gun, gang and drug related offences.

Our Government called upon the Opposition parties to pass three crime bills up for debate in the House of Commons to ensure that Canadians are better protected from dangerous offenders. The bills included:

• C-10 - increasing minimum penalties for firearms-related offences;
• C-27 - imposing stricter conditions on repeat offenders to keep such criminals from offending again and again; and
• C-35 - introducing a reverse onus for serious crimes involving firearms.
  

In total, there are currently nine bills before Parliament for which I am responsible for as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and to which this Government is committed to bringing into force to make our streets and communities safer.

Protecting families from repeat violent and sexual offenders is important to this Government, and important to the Canadian way of life. In fact, Canadians’ historic pride in our low crime rates has become one of the defining features of this country. However, things changed through several Liberal governments, when those crime rates began to rise.

In a minority government, Canadians expect there be consensus among parliamentarians and for parties to be able to work together. Yet, despite the Liberal government having introduced legislation to increase penalties for firearms crimes prior to the 2006 election, 11 former Liberal cabinet ministers voted against Canada’s New Government legislation to do the same: Bill Graham, Ralph Goodale, Ken Dryden, John Godfrey, Belinda Stronach, Jean Lapierre, John McCallum, Joe McGuire, Stephen Owen, Geoff Regan and Andy Scott.

During the election, the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc said they all wanted to tackle crime. Yet, their voting pattern over the last year indicates otherwise. I urge the Opposition to join Canada’s New Government and do the right thing and help make our streets and communities safer – Canadians deserve no less. Now it’s the time for them to “walk the talk”.