The Tories are stepping up their fight to pass their omnibus crime bill.
Bill C-2, the Tackling Violent Crime Act, which consists of five bills dealing with violent crimes, dangerous offenders, and the age of sexual consent, passed the House of Commons in late November, just before a Christmas break that ended in late January. Now, the Conservatives say they may make the proposed act a confidence matter if the Liberal-controlled Senate doesn't pass the bill this month.
"When it comes to protecting children, when it comes to mandatory jail terms for people who commit crimes with firearms, when it comes to labeling people as dangerous offenders ... we have legislation that will accomplish that and the Senate appears to be holding it up," Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day told Â鶹´«Ã½net's Mike Duffy Live.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told the Senate committee on legal affairs that it should pass the bill in February. If that doesn't happen, he said he would tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the bill is a confidence measure and let him deal with it appropriately.
"We say to Liberal senators, and we say to (Liberal Leader) Stephane Dion, tell your Liberal colleagues to push this through," said Day.
Day called on the public to contact senators to push the bill through.
But senators counter that they don't understand the government's rush all of a sudden. They said they are constitutionally required to consider the bill fully and they won't be strong-armed into speeding up their decision to fit a government-imposed schedule.
Manitoba Senator Sharon Carstairs told Mike Duffy Live that the Tory government is trying to bully the Senate.
"Unfortunately, for Mr. Harper, senators can't be bullied," she said.
"We want to hear from the public ... particularly on two issues. I am very concerned about the impact of this (bill) on Aboriginal people. Reverse onus bail conditions, for example."
Reverse onus would require people accused of violent crimes to state why they should receive bail, rather than put the onus on prosecutors to prove why the accused should be kept in jail.
"We do have Charter rights and one of them is to be silent, but you can't be silent if you have to, in fact, prove reverse onus," said Carstairs.
She noted that aboriginal people are already disproportionately jailed and the reverse onus requirement may add to their incarceration numbers.
Carstairs said she also wants to hear from social workers about what effect raising the sexual age of consent from 16 to 14 would have on young people living on the streets. She said she is concerned that young prostitutes may be driven underground if the age of consent is raised and that would leave them more vulnerable to exploitation. It could also keep them away from social workers who could help them escape their plight.
Carstairs noted that her concerns may turn out to be incorrect, but she said she wants to hear from experts before she makes a knee-jerk decision on the matter.
Nicholson has said he doesn't understand why it would take the Senate much time to analyze the bill since it has already been studied in one form or another over the years. The bill had to be re-introduced in the fall because Harper cut the last parliamentary session short.
"You can do anything you want," Nicholson told the Senate committee.
"You can study this for a year if that's what you want ... It's our option to go to the people of Canada and ask them to decide on this.''
Nicholson's threat that the Tories could turn the bill into a confidence motion may face a few hurdles. The Senate is not bound to Confidence rules. Harper may have the option of going directly to Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean to call an election on the matter.
With files from CTV's Jed Kahane and The Canadian Press
