Canadian Government Tables Omnibus Crime Bill

Today, the federal government tabled Bill C-2 in the House of Commons, the Tackling Violent Crime Act.

The Act reintroduces many of the Conservative government's major crime bills that were debated during the last session of Parliament but never adopted.

According to the backgrounder prepared by Justice Canada, the Act would, if adopted:

• impose mandatory jail time for serious gun crimes;
• create tougher bail rules when a gun is used to commit a crime;
• increase the age of protection for sexual activity from 14 years to 16 years;
• crack down on drug- and alcohol-impaired driving;
• ensure that high-risk and dangerous offenders will have to prove why they should not be deemed a violent offender

News coverage:

• Tories dare Liberals to support new crime bill (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation): "The Conservatives introduced their new tough-on-crime legislation in the House of Commons on Thursday, challenging the Liberals to find a reason not to pass it (...) The Conservatives have declared Bill C-2, also known as the Tackling Violent Crime Bill, a matter of confidence. If the bill doesn't pass, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government will fall and an election will be called. The bill contains elements of several previous crime bills that were never made into law during the last session of Parliament. Three of those bills passed in the House of Commons after opposition parties made amendments to them, but the bills then got stalled in the Liberal-dominated Senate."
• Harper reloads with crime ultimatum (Globe and Mail): "The Prime Minister insisted his government will not accept any amendments to an omnibus crime bill that will revive a series of bills killed when he prorogued Parliament. And Conservative sources said the new omnibus legislation will strip out some amendments that had been passed in the last session – forcing the opposition to accept at least some measures they deemed unacceptable last term (...) A Conservative source said that one portion, on tougher sentences for gun crimes, will reflect NDP amendments the Tories had accepted in the last session, but other portions of the new bill will undo opposition amendments – daring them to back down."