Press Releases

Liberal Justice Plan to Fast-track Legislation

October 26, 2006
Ottawa – The Official Opposition today offered to speed the passage of more than half of the government’s justice bills to deliver Canadians the most effective criminal justice legislation possible.

“By ensuring the passage of these six bills, our Liberal justice plan is helping to get effective laws on the books with a minimum of delay,“ said the Leader of the Official Opposition Bill Graham. “Canadians want the safest communities possible, and this plan is a common sense solution to help deliver that.”

“By swiftly passing the legislation that we can support, we are delivering the sound, principled opposition we promised at the beginning of this Parliament,” said Mr. Goodale.

The Liberal plan calls for the support and swift passage of bills: C-9 (Conditional Sentencing); C-18 (DNA Identification); C-19 (Street Racing); C-22 (Age of Consent); C-23 (Criminal Procedure); and C-26 (Pay Day Loans). Five of these bills originated with the previous Liberal government: C-9, C-18, C-19, C-23 and C-26.

“This plan also frees up time for Parliament and its Justice committee to carefully study the other bills in the government’s justice agenda with which we in the official opposition have serious concerns,“ said Liberal Justice Critic Sue Barnes.

“Rather than focus on producing sound and coherent public policy for serious debate, this government has simply tried to overload the justice committee with a lengthy series of one-off bills,” said Ralph Goodale, Official Opposition House Leader.

Almost one third of the minority Conservative government’s legislative agenda – 11 of 34 bills – is focused on justice issues. This constitutes the single largest redrawing of Canada’s criminal code in a generation and deserves careful examination. It also presents an enormous challenge for the House Standing Committee on Justice, which is called upon to study these bills. The Liberal Justice Plan is one way of expediting this process.

“We are enabling this government to support its own legislative agenda by supporting the Liberal Justice Plan,“ said Ms. Barnes.

“We aren’t interested in playing politics with the Criminal Code and we hope this minority government will work with us to pass these bills, and give Canadians some peace of mind,” said Mr. Goodale.

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