🚀 go-pugleaf

Liberal senators blasted by Tories, NDP for blocking crime bill
 
 
October 7, 2009 

 
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, shown here in a March 2009 file 
photo, blasted Liberal senators on Wednesday for watering down 
legislation designed to remove credit for time served by offenders 
awaiting sentencing.
 
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, shown here in a March 2009 file 
photo, blasted Liberal senators on Wednesday for watering down 
legislation designed to remove credit for time served by offenders 
awaiting sentencing.
Photograph by: Chris Wattie, Reuters

OTTAWA � Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson blasted Liberal 
senators on Wednesday, accusing them of watering down legislation 
designed to remove credit for time served by offenders awaiting 
sentencing.

The legislation, supported by provincial governments across the 
country, would eliminate a common practice among judges, when 
sentencing offenders, to credit them on a two-for-one basis for each 
day spent in detention

But the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee voted to 
change the proposed legislation so that offenders would receive a 
credit of 1.5 days for each day served in pre-sentence custody � but 
that judges would retain their discretion to sentence up to two days or 
as they see fit.

"I believe the bill has been gutted," Nicholson told Canwest News 
Service. "Judges will have the discretion to give up to two-to-one, 
which is exactly what we had taken aim at."

NDP Leader Jack Layton also took aim at the senators, criticizing them 
for not raising concerns about the legislation earlier.

"Unelected senators shouldn't be standing in the way of the unanimous 
will of the House when it comes to important laws," Layton said. "This 
is another example why we shouldn't have unelected law makers in this 
country and that the Senate should be abolished."

Nicholson also criticized Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff for allowing 
the senators to change the legislation. The justice minister said 
there's a consensus among Canadians for more laws cracking down on 
crime, but that the senators are delaying those changes by proposing 
amendments.

"I hope (the legislation) gets fixed in the main Senate," Nicholson 
said. "This is why I have been asking since June, for Mr. Ignatieff to 
step forward, to put some pressure, to show some leadership on this 
issue and bring together some unity within his own political party on 
all of these issues."

But Liberal justice critic Dominic LeBlanc defended Ignatieff, 
explaining that the Liberal MPs supported the government's legislation 
and would work to reverse any changes proposed by the Senate.

"Mr. Ignatieff is not like Mr. Harper. He doesn't order caucus members 
around," said LeBlanc. "The Senate has a role to play but I can be very 
clear that we don't believe the bill should be amended."

The Harper government introduced its bill seven months ago amid 
complaints from provincial governments and other critics that the 
credit is being abused by accused offenders who drag out their trials 
so they can cut their time in prison.

Criminal lawyers have countered that judges can already deny time 
credit to those who try to drag out their trials. The idea behind the 
credit is to compensate for the harsh conditions in detention 
facilities.

The Senate as a whole, which is dominated by Liberals, must still pass 
the amended version of the bill before it is sent back to the House of 
Commons for vote, said Mark Roy, spokesman for the Liberals in the 
Senate.

The Commons can decide to reject the amendment and punt the bill back 
to the Senate, which has traditionally accepted the will of the elected 
MPs.