Long-Awaited Violent Crime Legislation Finally Becomes Law

Thursday, February 27th, 2008

OTTAWA – Federal legislation to tackle violent crime finally became law today at a ceremony attended by Parliamentarians and Governor General Michaëlle Jean. Prince George-Peace River MP Jay Hill welcomed the legislation that, despite widespread support from Canadians, had been delayed several months and even years by the opposition parties and Liberal Senators.

“There was overwhelming demand from Canadians to pass this legislation to better protect our children from sexual predators, keep dangerous offenders and gun-toting gang members off our streets and tackle drug driving,” said Hill. “Some of these measures have been the focus of my efforts towards justice reform since I was first elected as an MP”.

Five justice bills introduced by the Conservative Government had languished in Parliament, despite thorough and extensive debate, due to obstructionism and delay tactics by opposition parties in the House of Commons and unelected Liberals in the Senate. In the new session of Parliament, last October, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson combined the five pieces of legislation into one Bill, C-2. Deeming the legislation was too important to delay any longer, the government tabled a motion earlier this month indicating that the Bill had to be passed no later than March 1, 2008 and a failure to do so would be considered a lack of confidence in the government, triggering an election.

Measures enacted under this legislation include: increasing the age of consent for sexual activity from 14 to 16 to protect children from adult predators; enforcing tougher bail rules when a gun is used to commit a crime; imposing mandatory jail time for serious gun crimes; cracking down on drug-impaired driving; and, ensuring that high-risk and dangerous offenders face tougher consequences when they are sentenced and are kept better track of to prevent them from offending again and again.

“Fundamentally, we are closing some glaring legal loopholes that violent criminals, gangs, drug-impaired drivers and sexual predators have been exploiting,” explained Hill. “This includes putting the onus on repeat dangerous offenders to prove that they are not a threat to society and if they can’t do that, they will not be free to roam our streets!”

Hill concluded, “The changes arising from the passage of this legislation are long overdue, but late is better than never when responding to the needs of Canadians.”