SWEEPING CONSERVATIVE CRIME BILL ONLY 'THE BEGINNING'

Armed with a majority, the Harper government is setting out to
refashion Canada's justice system with a sweeping crime bill to
toughen punishments for a range of offenders, from drug dealers to
sexual predators to what Justice Minister Rob Nicholson calls
"out-of-control young people."

The Safe Streets and Communities Act was a centrepiece of the
Conservative Party's spring re-election platform, and the Tories -
mindful of ingrained voter cynicism about unfulfilled political
promises - are giving it pride of place as the first bill introduced
in the fall sitting. During the campaign, they promised to pass it
within 100 business days of Parliament's return.

Even as he unveiled the 102-page justice legislation, Mr. Nicholson
promised the Tories haven't exhausted their enthusiasm for more crime
laws.

"This is not the end; this is just the beginning of our efforts in
this regard," Mr. Nicholson said during a news conference in Brampton,
Ont., a city that was a key battleground in the 2011 election and is
now part of the Conservatives' Toronto-area fortress. "We'll introduce
other legislation as well."

Bill C-10, tabled in the Commons on Tuesday, combines nine separate
bills that the Conservatives failed to enact into law during their
minority government years but can now easily pass given their majority
of seats in both the Commons and Senate.

It will rewrite laws on the production and possession of drugs, on
young offenders, parole and house arrest, pardons and anti-terrorism,
among others. In many cases, the Tories are increasing, or
introducing, minimum sentences for offences - from possessing pot to
bestiality to incest.

Opposition critics denounced the measures as retrograde and costly,
but it was telling that few political rivals dared to criticize the
legislation during Question Period, the main daily forum for attacking
the government. No MP relishes being labelled soft on crime.

Speaking to reporters earlier Tuesday, NDP justice critic Joe Comartin
predicted the tougher sentencing rules would land thousands more
offenders in provincial and federal prisons each year and impose
burdensome new costs on governments across Canada.

The Justice Minister defended the measures in the face of figures
showing crime on average is decreasing in Canada. "We're not governing
on the basis of the latest statistics; we're governing on the basis of
what's right to better protect victims and law-abiding Canadians," Mr.
Nicholson said.

Data released this summer showed the national crime rate is continuing
its 20-year decline - reaching levels not seen since 1973.

Mr. Nicholson was quick to point out, however, that drug crimes and
child sexual exploitation crimes are bucking this downward trend -
developments that reflect the fact that authorities are cracking down
on these offences.

The Justice Minister refused to put a price tag on how much it would
cost taxpayers to support the new crime bill, including the expense of
expanding prisons. Earlier this year, however, the Tories had
suggested their plans for 18 anti-crime measures would cost
$631-million - on top of the price of building more prison cells,
estimated to total $2.1-billion over five years.

Tuesday's bill is laden with political symbolism. One measure paves
the way for Canadian victims of terrorist acts to sue the perpetrators
and supporters of terrorism in Canadian courts, including seeking
compensation from foreign states.

It sets Jan. 1, 1985, as the date from which Canadian terrorism
victims can seek redress. This means families of the Flight 182 Air
India bombings of June, 1985, are eligible.

One government source said the dating is deliberate, adding it would
have been stupid to introduce such a measure but then neglect to
include the worst act of terror committed against Canadians. The
victims on Flight 182 included 280 Canadians.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae, speaking Tuesday morning, dismissed
the planned embrace of more prison time as a means of tackling crime.
He said this approach has failed in the United States.

"The states in the U.S. which have participated in this folly for the
last 25 to 30 years, even those governed by Tea Party people, are
saying, 'We can't afford this: it's a waste of time and money - let's
change course,' " he said.

"It's time we woke up as Canadians and recognize this government is
taking us on a forced march not back to the 19th century but back to
the 18th century before people began to look at the criminal justice
system and say that they were incarcerating all sorts of people who
didn't belong in jail."

What's in the omnibus crime bill

The omnibus crime bill includes nine former crime bills which the
Harper government failed to pass when it held a minority in
Parliament. They are:

1) The Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act, which would
impose mandatory minimum sentences for a range of sexual offences
involving someone under the age of 16 and create two new offences, one
for making sexually explicit information available to a child and
another for agreeing or arranging to commit a sexual offence against a
child.

2) The Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act, which would impose
mandatory penalties for certain drug crimes and special penalties for
drug offences carried out by organized criminal gangs or those that
target youth. Possession of six marijuana plants for the purposes of
trafficking, for instance, would result in a mandatory six-month term.
Production of cannabis oil or resin would mean a year and a half
behind bars.

3) The Protecting the Public from Violent Young Offenders Act, which
would make public safety a primary goal of young offenders
legislation, keep violent and repeat young offenders off the streets
while awaiting trial, require courts to consider adult sentences for
youths aged 14 and up convicted of the most serious crimes, enable the
courts to impose harsher sentences on other violent and repeat
offenders, and allow the publication of the names of violent young
offenders.

4) The Ending House Arrest for Property and Other Serious Crimes by
Serious and Violent Offenders Act, which would prevent judges from
imposing conditional sentences for crimes involving serious personal
injury, crimes which carry a maximum prison term of 14 years or more,
and some other specified offences - escaping prison, luring a child,
criminal harassment, sexual assault, human trafficking, abduction,
theft over $5,000, breaking-and-entering, and arson - when those
offences are prosecuted by indictment rather than the less serious
summary conviction.

5) The Increasing Offender Accountability Act, which would enshrine a
victim's right to participate in parole hearings and address inmate
accountability, responsibility and management under the Corrections
and Conditional Release Act.

6) The Eliminating Pardons for Serious Crimes Act, which would replace
the term pardon with "record suspension" and deny suspensions to
people convicted of sexually abusing children, as well as those
convicted by indictment of more than three offences. Criminals
convicted by indictment would have to wait 10 years for a record
suspension. Those receiving less serious summary convictions would
have to wait five years.

7) The Keeping Canadians Safe (International Transfer of Offenders)
Act (previously Bill C-5), which would give the Minister of Public
Safety more leeway to deny a transfer to Canada of Canadians convicted
abroad.

8) The Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act and related amendments to
the State Immunity Act, which would allow victims of terrorism to sue
perpetrators and supporters of terrorism, including listed foreign
states, for loss or damage that occurred as a result of an act of
terrorism committed anywhere in the world after Jan. 1, 1985.

9) The Preventing the Trafficking, Abuse and Exploitation of
Vulnerable Immigrants Act. This so-called anti-strippers measure would
authorize immigration officers to refuse work permits to vulnerable
foreign nationals when it is determined that they are at risk of
humiliating or degrading treatment, including sexual exploitation or
human trafficking.