Conservatives hide from opposition and impose closure on their controversial crime bill

OTTAWA — The Conservative government is once again hiding from opposition scrutiny and imposed a gag order to silence critics of their controversial crime legislation, bill C-10. and ram it through committee.

In the Standing Committee on Justice this morning, Conservatives moved to limit clause by clause study of the this bill, which should be completed by midnight tonight.

This bypasses important parliamentary work and is just the latest example of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives shutting down debate. Seven times this parliamentary session, Conservatives have moved closure and shut down debate in the House of Commons.

“What are the Conservatives afraid of? There are 208 clauses to review thoroughly, as well as hundreds of amendments. These Conservative antics are going to prevent us from doing our job. This bill, which sparked controversy across the country, will now be adopted practically as is. It’s the provinces that will come out the biggest losers because they’ll have to pick up the bill for this expensive and out of touch bill,” said NDP Justice Critic, Jack Harris (St-John East).

The omnibus crime bill has been the object of severe criticism since being introduced. The provinces are refusing to pay the bill for these changes to the Criminal Code, which would increase prison population while denying young offenders the possibility of rehabilitation. Despite the fact that Canada’s crime rates have continued to fall in the last 20 years.

“The provinces, including Quebec’s Justice Minister, expressed serious concerns about the bill, which constitutes a major setback in the fight against crime. Quebec proposed three clear amendments and we probably won’t even have time to discuss one of them. This is unacceptable,” said Associate Justice Critic, Françoise Boivin (Gatineau).

“Not only will this bill create unnecessary backlogs in the courts, but it will call into question the principle of redemption. In the end, it will be taxpayers who pay for the Conservatives’ short-sightedness,” said Boivin.