Omnibus crime bill will target gangs not teens, Justice Minister says

Canadian jail cells are not going to be filled with teenagers and college students who share marijuana with friends, according to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who says his crime bill has been grossly misrepresented.

In a year-end interview with Postmedia News, he said mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana production are designed to target organized crime, gangs and grow-ops. They don’t apply to youths — and even new provisions that aim to penalize adults who are trafficking drugs around schools mean perpetrators would have to be caught with an “eight-pound joint” to be saddled with a mandatory minimum under the safe streets and communities act, he argued.

“For the most part the laws with respect to marijuana aren’t changed, but they are changed with respect to trafficking associated with organized crime, gangs and grow-ops for the purpose of trafficking,” he said. “I want to make that very clear because it was not clear in some of the criticisms. If somebody was thrown in jail under this bill, they were in the business of trafficking.”

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Tory crime bill will make matters worse for mentally ill: expert

At least one group that never got a chance to make its pitch before a Commons committee reviewing the omnibus crime bill is now coming forward to voice its concerns after Conservatives used their majority Monday night to push the bill through the House of Commons.

Forensic psychiatrist and Canadian Psychiatric Association board member Gary Chaimowitz will be in Ottawa Wednesday to put forward a series of recommendations aimed at addressing the problem of mental illness in provincial and federal prisons — something critics have argued is completely ignored in Bill C-10.

“The issue exists notwithstanding this bill, but the bill will likely exacerbate the crisis for patients with mental illness in the criminal justice system,” Chaimowitz said in an interview Tuesday, noting that in some parts of the country as much as half the inmate population could be suffering from mental illness and not receiving proper treatment.

“It is timely.”

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Quebec minister tries again to sway Tories on crime bill

Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier is back in Ottawa Tuesday morning in a last-ditch attempt to convince the Conservatives to amend their controversial anti-crime bill.

With just two days to go before the House of Commons justice committee completes a clause-by-clause review of the bill, Mr. Fournier will meet with his federal counterpart, Rob Nicholson, to once again make his case for changes to the legislation.

The province is most concerned about the bill’s proposal to toughen penalties for young offenders, which Mr. Fournier fears would diminish the justice system’s focus on rehabilitation. He also wants Ottawa to allow the provinces to bow out of a measure to allow young offenders’ names to be published.

A spokesman said Mr. Fournier is visiting at Mr. Nicholson’s invitation so the two could discuss the amendments in person.

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Dump The Unneeded Crime Laws, Stephen Harper

Prime Minister Stephen Harper must dump ideology and practise smart government.

Well of course Ontario and Quebec don’t want to pay for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s anti-crime legislation. That’s because it doesn’t make sense.

Some estimates have the new laws costing as much as $2.5 billion over five years. Who wants to pay that when crime rates, largely due to aging demographics, are declining markedly? Who wants to pay for unnecessary legislation when government deficits are at high levels and health care is consuming huge amounts of money, again largely due to aging demographics?

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That's a weird photograph. Tom

The Conservatives’ crime obsession is not magnificent

The Prison is the Answer to Everything omnibus crime bill introduced by the Conservative government this week has some worthwhile measures – sometimes prison is the answer – but it also tends to go too far. It gets onto a good thing, such as ending the overuse of house arrest in violent crime, and then can't restrain itself from including non-violent offences such as car theft. Or it decides tougher sentences are in order for drug traffickers and organized crime, and then slaps a six-month jail term on anyone who grows six marijuana plants. (The bill is formally known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, and includes nine bills introduced by the Conservatives during minority rule and never passed.)

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Sweeping crime bill – and costly Tory cost-cutter – revealed

The Conservative government takes the first step Tuesday toward passing a slate of justice bills that have died on the order paper – some of them more than once as a result of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 election call and decision to prorogue Parliament last year.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson will be joined by Immigration Minister Jason Kenny at the Peel Regional Police Association in Brampton, west of Toronto, to announce that the much-talked-about omnibus crime bill will be tabled in the House.

The Conservative government says the majority mandate it received in the spring election was a signal from Canadians they are behind this bill. But it is likely to contain a number of measures opposed by criminal-justice experts who say they will makes streets less safe while costing billions of dollars.

Those measures could include, among other things, keeping young offenders in jail for longer periods of time, harsher penalties for drug crimes including a minimum six-month sentence for someone who is found with six marijuana plants for the purposes of trafficking, ending house arrest for property crimes and other serious offences, and a bill to eliminate pardons for people convicted of serious crimes including sexually assaulting children or three different charges.

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Speaking of crimes, what happened to the investigation of government spending during G8? Tom

Weighty Tory crime bill targets drugs, sex offenders, ‘out-of-control' youth

The Harper government has taken the first step toward passing a massive nine-part crime bill – an effort to toughen Ottawa’s approach to the entire pantheon of offenders from drug dealers to sexual predators to what the Conservatives call “out-of-control young people.”

The Tories tabled the omnibus Safer Streets and Communities Act Tuesday, which rolls into one bill nine separate measures. These are all pieces of legislation the Conservatives had failed to enact into law during their minority government years but can now easily pass given their Commons and Senate majorities.

But even as he unveiled this huge justice bill, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson promised the Tories haven’t exhausted their enthusiasm for more crime legislation.

“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., part of the majority Tory government’s new political base as a result of the May 2011 federal election.

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Gotta put someone in all the new prisons. Tom

Crime bills to be scrutinized, Liberals warn

No Easy Passage

Shannon Kari, National Post Published: Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Arlen Redekop, Canwest News Service

One of the stated reasons for the prorogation of Parliament was that the resetting of Senate committees would better allow the Tories to pass their crime legislation, parts of which had been held up in the Upper Chamber in the past.

But the Liberal justice critic says his party is not going to approve speedy passage of all the crime legislation through the House of Commons -- even if that leads to accusations of being labeled "soft on crime" -- when Parliament resumes this week.

"What you are going to see in the coming weeks is a more focused discussion from us," said Dominic LeBlanc. "We are not going to be wedged anymore. We will look at each bill one-by-one to see if it is more effective for public safety," the New Brunswick MP explained.

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