Bruce Campion-SmithOttawa Bureau chief
OTTAWA—Tougher penalties for serious crimes and expanded police powers to track suspects are expected to be part of a sweeping package of crime legislation to be introduced Tuesday by the federal government.
Declaring that there is “still far too much crime” in Canada, the Conservatives are going ahead with their spring election vow to implement the extensive justice laws as Parliament returns after a summer recess.
“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,” said an internal memo sent to Conservative MPs Sunday.
“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.
While it’s not known for sure what measures will be in the legislation, they could include adult sentences for youths convicted of serious crimes, expanded surveillance powers for police, curbing house arrest for property crimes and ending pardons for serious crimes.
With their new majority mandate, the Conservatives can be assured of implementing measures that had faced opposition in the past.
Nevertheless, the proposed laws could face delays.
The memo tries to tackle one argument that could be raised by opponents: that the crime rate is falling.
“Quite simply, people are not reporting to the police that they are a victim of crime,” the memo says. “More needs to be done.”
In addition to law and order, other issues to be tackled in the coming months include a slowing economy, cutting public subsidies to political parties and setting the stage for a bigger House of Commons.
But as MPs return to the House of Commons on Monday, the first item on the agenda will be to pay tribute to one of their own: Jack Layton.
The Commons will resume its session at 11 a.m. with tributes from all parties to the NDP leader who died in August of cancer.
While Layton’s body lay in state in the Commons’ foyer and many MPs attended his state funeral in Toronto, Monday marks the first day they will be able to offer tributes in the chamber where Layton achieved the greatest success of his long political career.
The seat Layton occupied as the leader of the official Opposition will sit empty as interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel leads off the speeches, followed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
But by the afternoon question period, expect the political collegiality to give way to partisan clashes over the economy, an issue sure to dominate Parliament this fall.
“The state of the world economy and how that rebounds on Canada is going to dominate,” said Ralph Goodale, deputy Liberal leader.
“Countries (are) teetering on the brink in Europe... The global situation is very precarious,” he said in an interview.
With 1.3 million Canadians out of work, Goodale, a former finance minister, said that economy needs more than the Conservatives’ government belt-tightening program.
“If they think the solution for what ails Canada and for what ails the global economy is just austerity . . . they’re wrong,” he said. “That kind of approach is not going to bring jobs and economic growth, it’s not going to protect Canadians from the global downturn.
“It’s time to put ideology aside.”
Both the NDP and Liberals charge that Harper and his team are repeating their mistake of 2008 when they were slow to see the recession coming.
“Just like in 2008, Mr. Harper seems to believe he can simply talk his way out of a recession,” Turmel told an NDP caucus meeting last week in Quebec City.
“It seems that every day under this Conservative government the bad news just keeps rolling in. Unemployment is going up, not down. Life is getting more expensive,” she said.
But the Conservatives say the economy is their top priority, with a focus on jobs.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan says budget legislation this fall will enact a tax credit to encourage hiring by small businesses.
And he said the Conservatives will be moving ahead with their pledge to trim spending by $4 billion a year, a move that will mean cutting programs and jobs.
“We have to maintain that strong fiscal position in order to have the flexibility in order to respond if we need to,” Van Loan said in an interview.
Despite opposition pressure, the Conservatives are making clear they won’t be rushed into more stimulus spending unless the economy takes a sudden nosedive.
“If we’re faced with a dramatic shock . . . we would be pragmatic, we would be flexible. We’re not going to be ideological about this. We have to take steps if we’re faced with that kind of external shock,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told CTV’s Question Period Sunday. “But it would have to be a dramatic change, not what we’re seeing right now.”
Flaherty added that the Canadian economy is still on track for modest growth this year and next.
The busy fall session also includes:
• a possible extension of Canada’s military role supporting the NATO mission in Libya. The mission, involving Canadian fighter jets and a frigate, began in March and has already been extended to Sept. 27.
• legislation to eliminate the annual $2-per-vote public subsidy of political parties.
• revived legislation to expand the House of Commons to address population growth.
The Conservatives had proposed legislation, which died because of the spring election, that would have expanded the 308-seat Commons by 30 seats: 18 for Ontario, seven for British Columbia and five for Alberta. Van Loan said the new legislation would be “broadly very similar.”
OTTAWA—Tougher penalties for serious crimes and expanded police powers to track suspects are expected to be part of a sweeping package of crime legislation to be introduced Tuesday by the federal government.
Declaring that there is “still far too much crime” in Canada, the Conservatives are going ahead with their spring election vow to implement the extensive justice laws as Parliament returns after a summer recess.
“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,” said an internal memo sent to Conservative MPs Sunday.
“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.
While it’s not known for sure what measures will be in the legislation, they could include adult sentences for youths convicted of serious crimes, expanded surveillance powers for police, curbing house arrest for property crimes and ending pardons for serious crimes.
With their new majority mandate, the Conservatives can be assured of implementing measures that had faced opposition in the past.
Nevertheless, the proposed laws could face delays.
The memo tries to tackle one argument that could be raised by opponents: that the crime rate is falling.
“Quite simply, people are not reporting to the police that they are a victim of crime,” the memo says. “More needs to be done.”
In addition to law and order, other issues to be tackled in the coming months include a slowing economy, cutting public subsidies to political parties and setting the stage for a bigger House of Commons.
But as MPs return to the House of Commons on Monday, the first item on the agenda will be to pay tribute to one of their own: Jack Layton.
The Commons will resume its session at 11 a.m. with tributes from all parties to the NDP leader who died in August of cancer.
While Layton’s body lay in state in the Commons’ foyer and many MPs attended his state funeral in Toronto, Monday marks the first day they will be able to offer tributes in the chamber where Layton achieved the greatest success of his long political career.
The seat Layton occupied as the leader of the official Opposition will sit empty as interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel leads off the speeches, followed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
But by the afternoon question period, expect the political collegiality to give way to partisan clashes over the economy, an issue sure to dominate Parliament this fall.
“The state of the world economy and how that rebounds on Canada is going to dominate,” said Ralph Goodale, deputy Liberal leader.
“Countries (are) teetering on the brink in Europe... The global situation is very precarious,” he said in an interview.
With 1.3 million Canadians out of work, Goodale, a former finance minister, said that economy needs more than the Conservatives’ government belt-tightening program.
“If they think the solution for what ails Canada and for what ails the global economy is just austerity . . . they’re wrong,” he said. “That kind of approach is not going to bring jobs and economic growth, it’s not going to protect Canadians from the global downturn.
“It’s time to put ideology aside.”
Both the NDP and Liberals charge that Harper and his team are repeating their mistake of 2008 when they were slow to see the recession coming.
“Just like in 2008, Mr. Harper seems to believe he can simply talk his way out of a recession,” Turmel told an NDP caucus meeting last week in Quebec City.
“It seems that every day under this Conservative government the bad news just keeps rolling in. Unemployment is going up, not down. Life is getting more expensive,” she said.
But the Conservatives say the economy is their top priority, with a focus on jobs.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan says budget legislation this fall will enact a tax credit to encourage hiring by small businesses.
And he said the Conservatives will be moving ahead with their pledge to trim spending by $4 billion a year, a move that will mean cutting programs and jobs.
“We have to maintain that strong fiscal position in order to have the flexibility in order to respond if we need to,” Van Loan said in an interview.
Despite opposition pressure, the Conservatives are making clear they won’t be rushed into more stimulus spending unless the economy takes a sudden nosedive.
“If we’re faced with a dramatic shock . . . we would be pragmatic, we would be flexible. We’re not going to be ideological about this. We have to take steps if we’re faced with that kind of external shock,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told CTV’s Question Period Sunday. “But it would have to be a dramatic change, not what we’re seeing right now.”
Flaherty added that the Canadian economy is still on track for modest growth this year and next.
The busy fall session also includes:
• a possible extension of Canada’s military role supporting the NATO mission in Libya. The mission, involving Canadian fighter jets and a frigate, began in March and has already been extended to Sept. 27.
• legislation to eliminate the annual $2-per-vote public subsidy of political parties.
• revived legislation to expand the House of Commons to address population growth.
The Conservatives had proposed legislation, which died because of the spring election, that would have expanded the 308-seat Commons by 30 seats: 18 for Ontario, seven for British Columbia and five for Alberta. Van Loan said the new legislation would be “broadly very similar.”
