Crime Moves To The Forefront
by Gordon Walker
Lawyer; Former Ontario MPP and Cabinet Minister; former Chairman of Hollinger Inc.
- First Posted: Feb 22 2010 00:38 AM
- Updated: 4 months ago
The Conservatives’ crime agenda will no longer be stalled by Liberal frustration tactics in the Senate.
The Liberal Party of Canada is in a bit of a snit these days because it has just been beheaded (politically speaking) in the Senate. Their domination in the upper house has been almost forever it would seem.
Since 1993, the Liberals have had a stranglehold on government. It was almost 18 years ago that Jean Chrétien’s Liberals swept to power, and they held onto it until 2006 when Stephen Harper bested them in the Commons sweepstakes. But even after that, they have still ruled the roost through the use of their power in the Senate, managing to hamstring the Conservative Government. In no place was this more apparent than in the crime legislation the Conservatives tried to pass.
Conservatives introduced 17 crime related bills in the last session, being basically 2009. Only two of the bills actually made it through the Senate and became law, one tackling organized crime and another that ends the granting of double credit for jail time. These passages likely had more to do with the fear that Liberals in the House of Commons would be labelled soft on crime than the spirit of bipartisanship. The Liberals probably already suffer from that description. Certainly the bill that would make motor vehicle theft a separate crime got stalled in the Senate, as did one that would impose harsher sentencing for drug convictions. Other examples abound.
The appointments made to the Senate by Prime Minister Harper recently don’t just mark a shift of control in the red chamber, they also demonstrate that the Conservatives are going for the jugular on the crime issue. Harper is quoted as saying each new appointee is committed to the Conservative crime agenda. You can rest assured they signed in blood somewhere, at least metaphorically, that they will toe the party line.
To put the point further, the prime minister appointed one member who formed a victims’ rights group in Quebec after his daughter was murdered in 2002. Senator Boisvenu is quoted in the media as saying he will donate his Senator’s salary, about $130,000 per year, to that group.
I would say that the appointment of former MPP Bob Runciman is an even clearer statement of government intent. Runciman began his career as an MPP in 1981, a person with whom I served in Cabinet long ago. He has held Justice portfolios in several governments, having been Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety under Ontario Premier Mike Harris. Runciman is a pit bull when it comes to victims’ rights and tough crime approaches. He will be the same in the Senate, which will likely shake up some of those lethargic entities that consider it a gentlemen’s club. I have watched Bob Runciman take down a number of cabinet ministers when he was in Opposition – and by take down, I mean forcing them to resign. He is not a man to be trifled with.
There is no question that the Conservative crime agenda is now on the front burner. It can no longer be stalled by Liberal frustration tactics. Can an election be far off?
Comments
Re:Marks
“ Crime and punishment, law and order. Wow! Pretty clear from this article that a number of Conservatives are looking forward to some really tough crime legislation. The article implies but does not say that the Liberal dominated Senate blocked the rest of the Harper crime package. In fact, it was Harper proroguing the house that killed the remaining bills. Rather than face criticism on Afghanistan, Harper cut and ran. What was the real issue behind the Afghan detainees? Not that Canadian soldiers tortured Afghan detainees. Rather, it was that the system in place did not consider the detainees rights. The system in place put the captured scumbags in a situation in which torture was inevitable, but it was not Canadians that did the torturing. In fact, the Canadian General who set up the system continues do deny any knowledge of torture. It appears that scumbags have no human rights. How about the scumbags here in Canada? All those criminals who have long been coddled by the Liberals? Does it matter that crime rates are dropping under the existing legal regime? Does it matter that harsher sentences have been shown to not work anywhere they have been tried? No! Scumbags are scumbags and punishment is punishment. Walker seems gleeful that people with no sense of balance on crime and punishment have been selected by Harper to take control of the issue. Forget the professionals, Harper is saying, it is time to hand control over to amateurs. To person emotionally involved because he has been the victim of a crime. To a human "pit bull" on crime and punishment. Coming back to the opening line - is the Liberal party in a "snit"? Have Walker and his pals been in a snit for the last 3 years? Does policy come down to settling snits for everyone in politics? When it comes to snits, Harper and it appears Walker, make snits their reason for existence. The evidence for that claim? Reversing the snit has made Walker's day. He is so happy he cannot resist boasting about it. He cannot resist displaying the "we are going to force an election on the issue" card. We will see how this plays out in the days following March 3. If as expected Harper goes over the top on his new Crime and Punishment package, the opposition should force an election. Then it is the voters' turn. Will the people of Canada buy the Harper Old Testament version of justice? Will it instead stick with the methods developed over the last 150 years that have resulted in lower crime rates? The opposition must put the issue to the voters. This is an issue worthy of an election. Lets hope the Liberals and NDP are prepared to fight it.
Brent Beach