LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS FIRST

Our Conservative government has taken steps to help keep our
communities safe and will continue to do so. We have taken concrete
steps to address the serious, complex problems of identity theft and
fraud.

In this regard, Bill S-4 creates three new offences directly linked to
identity theft -- each liable to a maximum five-year sentence. We are
very proud that this legislation received Royal Assent on Oct. 22. We
believe that Canadians deserve the very best protection for their
identity and personal information.

Bill C-25 put an end to the ridiculous practice of granting double
credit for time spent in remand. For example, if an accused person who
had spent nine months in custody prior to sentencing were sentenced to
four years in prison, the net length of the sentence would be two
years and six months (i.e., four years minus 18 months). Under the
system introduced by our government, the net length of the sentence
will be three years and three months (i.e., four years minus nine
months) In other words, criminals will serve sentences that properly
reflect the seriousness of their crimes.

We also introduced Bill C-52 to deal with white-collar crime. Among
other things, this bill creates a two-year mandatory jail sentence for
fraud over $1 million; provides additional aggravating factors for
sentencing; requires judges to consider requiring offenders to make
restitution to victims in all fraud cases; and finally, allows
communities that have been harmed by the fraud to submit community
impact statements to the court.

Recently, the minister of Public Safety introduced a bill to abolish
parole after one-sixth of the sentence has been served and to end the
nearly automatic release of non-violent offenders after having only
served one-third of their sentence. This would put an end to our
revolving-door prison system and give priority to the rights of victims.

With Bill C-15, certain serious drug offences that involve organized
crime, violence or preying on youth would result in mandatory minimum
sentences.

Another bill introduced by our government intends to repeal the faint
hope clause. This would mean that individuals convicted of first-or
second-degree murder could no longer apply for early parole.

Our government has introduced legislation that intends to put an end
to discount sentences for multiple murderers. Bill C-54 would ensure,
for example, that an individual convicted of the premeditated murder
of three people would be sentenced to life without the possibility of
parole for 75 years.

A "life" sentence would actually mean "for life" for these dangerous
criminals.

All of these bills give priority to the rights of law-abiding
citizens. We are calling on all of our colleagues in the House of
Commons to do as we are doing and stand up for victims, not criminals."

Rob Nicholson is the minister of justice and attorney general of
Canada. Daniel Petit is the parliamentary secretary to the minister.