TORIES SET 3-WEEK DEADLINE TO CLEAR CRIME LEGISLATION

'This Is No Way to Run Parliament,' Critic Says

All four parties have agreed to an extraordinary Commons motion
rushing the government's omnibus crime bill through a special House
committee in only three weeks. The motion, quietly adopted in the
Commons shortly before the weekend adjournment last Friday, also
guarantees the legislation will be returned to the House for final
debate with no amendments if the deadline of midnight, Nov. 22, is not
met.

But the unusual agreement to rush the 34-page bill -- tough-on-crime
legislation stemming, in part, from a tragic shooting during the last
election campaign -- through committee has prompted criticism from
criminal defence lawyers who say it is "no way to run a
Parliament."

"When you're changing legislation that's going to shape the future for
our kids, grandkids and whatever, you should be extremely careful,"
said William Trudell, president of the Canadian Council of Criminal
Defence Lawyers.

Mr. Trudell and the head of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, Frank
Addario, also criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to
declare any motion on the omnibus bill a test of confidence, in effect
threatening an election should the opposition amend it.

The legislation is an amalgamation of five separate bills that had
either gone through committee stage in the last session of this
Parliament, had reached the Senate or were about to finish committee
study.

It would create two new offences for crimes involving guns and provide
escalating mandatory minimum prison sentences for serious firearm
offences, although the most contentious provisions would allow
automatic dangerous-offender designations after three convictions for
a range of crimes and sexual assaults.

The bill also proposes to stiffen bail provisions for anyone accused
of serious gun crimes, to introduce controversial urine and other body
fluid tests for drivers police think are under the influence of drugs,
and to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 years.

Conservative MP Gerald Keddy, a member of the special legislative
committee, defended Mr. Harper's decision to declare the bill a
confidence measure, as well as the agreement to speed it through
committee so hastily.

"I will guarantee you if this was not a confidence motion, these bills
would not be done in this session of Parliament," said Mr. Keddy. "We
would be back here next spring trying to get these same pieces of
legislation through the House."

Mr. Keddy noted that four of the five previous bills rolled into the
omnibus bill had already cleared most Commons hurdles, including
committee study. The government maintained several opposition
amendments to the previous bills.

But NDP MP Joe Comartin and Liberal MP Marlene Jennings said detailed
testimony is required for the provisions providing new
dangerous-offender classifications, with Mr. Comartin promising to
table amendments before the deadline later this month.

The use of a legislative committee is rare, and limits the range of
areas that can be probed during hearings. In the past, governments
have argued that legislative committees are allowed only to deal with
legal aspects of legislation. The most controversial recent use of the
special panels occurred as Parliament passed the former Liberal
government's same-sex marriage bill. At the time, Conservative MPs
objected strongly to limiting potential witnesses.

The deal appears to be a compromise that benefits the government and
the Liberals most, as Mr. Harper gets his crime legislation into the
Senate quickly while Liberal leader Stephane Dion avoids another
embarrassing retreat in the Commons to avoid an election. The divided
Liberal opposition, in no shape for an election, has abstained on
several votes that could have toppled the government this fall.

The defence lawyers' spokesmen objected to the government's
tactics.

Mr. Trudell said the rush by all parties to get crime legislation
through Parliament had its origins in the tragic death of a Toronto
teen on Boxing Day, 2005, in the middle of the campaign for the 2006
election.

"This is no way to run a Parliament," he said. "The reality is they've
all decided this is what they want to do for political
expediency."

Mr. Addario said the decision to designate criminal justice
legislation as a confidence measure -- in effect threatening MPs who
might want to oppose it -- was equally disturbing.

"We deplore the politicization of criminal law legislation," said Mr.
Addario. "It almost always results in bad law."

Under the special motion -- adopted through unanimous agreement with
no vote -- the committee work will be halted at midnight, Nov. 22, and
the necessary votes will be taken to end the hearings. If the
committee does not send a report back to the Commons by midnight the
next day, the bill "shall be deemed to have been reported from the
committee without amendment."

Former Liberal House leader Don Boudria said it is rare for the
Commons to limit committee study, and he could not recall a time when
a deadline was given before the committee began its work.

"What is abnormal is the timeline, it's very short," said Mr. Boudria.