Opposition inclined to block gun bill
Mandatory minimum sentences likely to face Charter challenge, MPs say
Janice Tibbetts
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, March 26, 2006
The federal opposition is sending signals it will block Conservative plans to impose automatic jail terms for a variety of gun-related crimes unless the stiff terms are watered down.
The legislation, expected to be introduced this spring, is one of the Tory government's key items in an ambitious law-and-order agenda and it represents the government's greatest justice hope in a divided Parliament.
The proposal will call for mandatory sentences of up to 10 years for more than two dozen crimes involving guns if the Conservatives follow through on their election promises as expected.
The opposition, while willing to deal with the governing party to fight a spate of gun violence in urban centres, say the Conservative penalties could run afoul of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee that the punishment must be proportional to the crime.
"If we go to 10 years, all we're doing is providing a long court challenge that is probably going to be successful in striking it down, so I don't see us as a country engaging in that kind of activity," said NDP justice critic Joe Comartin.
Sue Barnes, the Liberal justice critic, suggested the Conservative penalties are "draconian" measures that would have to be diluted to survive a court challenge.
The Bloc Quebecois could not be reached, but the party has repeatedly focused on prevention rather than punishment to fight crime and is expected to carve out a law-and-order position on the left wing of the fractured Parliament.
The NDP and Liberals say the proposals must go hand in hand with anti-crime programs, such as programs to deter young people from joining gangs, to garner their support.
There are already 29 minimum mandatory sentences in Canada's Criminal Code, 20 of which were imposed in 1995 gun-control legislation that increased punishment for crimes committed with firearms. The automatic jail terms for firearms crimes range from one to four years.
During the recent election campaign, the Liberals proposed doubling a handful of minimum penalties to two years from one.
The NDP went a bit further, proposing automatic jail terms for illegal possession, sale and importation of restricted weapons be raised to four years from the current one-year term.
The Conservative plan, as it exists in the party's election platform, calls for new or increased jail terms for 26 crimes involving guns, including five years for possession of a loaded, restricted or prohibited weapon such as a handgun. Other offences that currently carry a one-year minimum would be increased to five years and four-year minimums would increase to 10.
Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews, said any bill would reflect the platform, subject to approval by the federal cabinet.
One factor working in the Conservatives' favour is that no party wants to be seen as opposing a bill on firearms crimes at a time when there is public concern across the country, particularly in such cities as the Liberal bastion of Toronto.
The opposition parties are also already seeking compromises with the government in other areas, such as child care, so they may be willing to make extra concessions on fighting crime.
There is a consensus among criminologists that minimum jail terms, which eliminate discretion for judges to impose sentences they see fit, do not deter crime.
Source
Anyone sick of these
ball less people?
Maybe a shooting in parliament will get the point across.
Junior Member 
