Centrepiece legislation to tackle serious crime

OTTAWA , October 18, 2007 – The Government of Canada today introduced legislation that will ensure key criminal justice reforms move swiftly through the legislative process and finally become law. The Tackling Violent Crime Act brings forth again the significant crime bills that were extensively debated by Parliament during its last session, but never became law due to the opposition's stall and delay tactics .

"Canadians have told us they want to see action. They want us to move quickly and decisively to tackle crime and make our communities safer," said the Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada . "They are fed up with a justice system that puts the rights of criminals ahead of the rights of law-abiding citizens."

By introducing this comprehensive Tackling Violent Crime Act, the Government is showing that it is serious about the need to better protect youth from sexual predators, protect our communities from dangerous offenders, get serious with drug impaired drivers and toughen sentencing and bail for those who commit serious gun crimes. The measures included in the legislation will:

• 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 impaired driving; and
• ensure that high-risk and dangerous offenders face tougher consequences when they are sentenced and are better monitored post-release to prevent them from offending again and again.

"All the measures included in this legislation were studied in depth by Parliament in the last session, in fact some were held up for over one year," said Minister Nicholson. "If the opposition allows our Throne Speech to pass, they cannot obstruct our core priorities, including this bill. And to hold them to account, we will make Bill C-2 a confidence bill."

This legislative proposal is the centrepiece in a series of new crime bills the Government intends to introduce as soon as possible. Upcoming legislation will deal with a range of pressing issues such as identity theft, mandatory penalties for serious drug crimes and amendments to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

For an online version of the legislation, visit www.parl.gc.ca.

Ref.:

Geneviève Breton
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Justice
613-992-4621

Media Relations
Department of Justice
613-957-4207