BATTLE BEGINS OVER TORIES' CRIME BILL

Stats Show Offences Down, Critics Say

A sweeping omnibus crime bill tabled Tuesday that seeks to crack down
on young offenders, drug dealers, sexual predators and Canadians in
foreign prisons is under fire from critics -- who argue it's a waste
of time and money since crime rates are on the wane in Canada.

The bill, dubbed the Safe Streets and Communities Act, comprises nine
individual justice bills that died during the previous parliamentary
session because the then-minority Tory government could not push them through.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the new legislation will include
measures to protect children from sexual offenders by setting
mandatory minimum penalties, will target organized drug crime and
crack down on young offenders.

The legislation also will take away the option of house arrest for
those who have been convicted of serious violent and property crimes,
such as sexual assault, human trafficking, arson, child-luring and
kidnapping, he said.

Meanwhile, electronic privacy advocates expressed relief that the
bill did not include measures to allow for greater spying of people's
online activities, saying the omission gives them time to press for
fuller debate on the issue.

"I take this as a positive, that even if (Prime Minister Stephen
Harper) is going to reintroduce this, he'll allow Canadians to debate
it," said University of Toronto law professor Lisa Austin, who joined
a coalition of academics and advocacy groups last month in sending an
open letter to the prime minister expressing concerns about the
proposed "lawful access" measures.

Besides boosting online surveillance capabilities and powers to
intercept communications, other measures that the government has said
it wants to introduce include toughening sentences for people who
commit elder abuse, improving the efficiency of complex trials and
broadening citizen-arrest powers.

Currently, citizens can only arrest lawbreakers if they are caught in
the act of committing an offence. The Harper government has said that
it wants to make the law less restrictive. Critics are worried such
measures could encourage vigilantism. The government promised action
after a Toronto shopkeeper, David Chen, was charged with assault and
forcible confinement after he and two of his employees confronted a
thief, tied him up and threw him into the back of a van. Chen was
later acquitted of the charges.

In recent weeks though, the law-and-order issue that seems to have
generated the most heated debate is electronic surveillance. "There's
this belief that if we have access to everything, we'd catch all the
bad guys. It simply doesn't work that way," said Valerie Steeves, a
professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa. "What disturbs
me is once you get warrantless access to my identity online, you've
crossed that line."

The opposition has promised to oppose the bill. With their Commons
majority, however, the Conservatives no longer need the opposition's support.

NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said that the bill focuses on
incarceration rather than crime prevention.

" The evidence generally was overwhelmingly opposed to most of this
legislation and the witnesses who came forward pointed out the faults
and the frailties of the approach that they're taking," Comartin said.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae slammed the legislation, suggesting
the government is taking Canada in an "ideological direction" that
has more to do with its "obsession" with the "symbolism" of
denouncing crime than with actually improving public safety.

[sidebar]

Bill highlights

The Safe Streets and Communities Act tabled Tuesday would:

- - Increase minimum sentences for sexual offences against children to
one year from 45 days in prison for indictable offences and 90 days
from 14 for summary convictions. The bill also sets minimum sentences
for incest, bestiality and child pornography.

- -Create two new offences: providing sexually explicit material to a
child for the purpose of engaging the child in a sexual offence, and
using the Internet, or any other telecommunication device, to arrange
a meeting with a child to commit a sexual offence.

- - Set a minimum sentence of one year in prison for those convicted of
drug trafficking and who are tied to organized crime, are repeat
offenders or who used violence during the commission of the offence.
The minimum sentence becomes two years for trafficking drugs on or
near school grounds or other public places frequented by children.
Importing drugs will also carry a one year minimum sentence.

- - Double the maximum sentence for marijuana production to 14 years
and impose a minimum six month sentence for the production of between
six and 200 plants. Minimum sentences increase depending on the
number of plants involved and whether there is intent to traffic.

- - Date rape drugs and amphetamines would become Schedule I drugs,
resulting in higher maximum penalties when used in the commission of an offence.