CANADA: Senator James Cowan blasts Rob Nicholson on misleading media statements about Bill S-10
Senator Cowan's letter to Justice Minister Nicholson
December 9, 2010
The Hon. Rob Nicholson, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice
Room 105 EB
The House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Minister Nicholson,
I regret that I must write to you yet again to correct statements you have made accusing Liberal Senators of "stalling" your crime bills.
In your press conference of December 8, you accused the Opposition of "stalling" on "very important bills", and, when asked for particulars, you pointed to Bill S-10, the Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. You said:
"That bill has been before Parliament for almost two years. The Senate has had it for about a year and a half."
This is incorrect and misleading.
As you know, Bill S-10 has not been before Parliament for two years.
Your government chose to prorogue Parliament last December in order to avoid difficult questions about the treatment of Afghan detainees on your watch. Parliament only returned on March 3, 2010. You then waited to reintroduce the bill for another two months, on May 5, 2010. That is seven months that the Bill has been before the Senate - contrasted to five months that your Government delayed its progress.
Seven months is an eminently reasonable period of time for the Senate to study this bill. The bill has been controversial. Yet again, you have opted to put forward illusory solutions to serious issues.
Instead of devising thoughtful policies that could work to address drug abuse, this bill - like so many in your law-and-order agenda - amends the Criminal Code to apply mandatory minimum prison sentences.
The problem is, mandatory minimum sentences do not work to deter crime. And this is a conclusion you yourself reached.
In 1988, you served as Vice-Chair of a Parliamentary Committee that recommended that mandatory minimum sentences not be used, except in the limited case of repeat violent sexual offenders. You said they are not effective and carry prohibitive costs. Your report also noted that they cause "distortions" in the justice process.
It is not "tough on crime" to impose ineffective solutions, especially those that you have noted could cause problems for the justice system.
Frankly, it is irresponsible governing.
The costs of your crime agenda have been estimated to be in the billions of dollars - and this at a time when your government has already run up the largest deficit in Canadian history. Meanwhile, your government, which came to power promising a new era of openness and transparency, has refused to disclose the anticipated costs to Canadian taxpayers of this agenda. Most recently, you alleged "Cabinet confidences" prevent the disclosure.
I fail to understand how the costs of your policy program could be a Cabinet confidence, any more than any details of any policy reached by a government. One suspects that in fact, your government is hiding behind this spurious claim, because you are either unwilling to admit to Canadians how many billions this misguided prison spree will cost - or that you embarked on this folly of a crime policy for political and ideological reasons, and actually do not know yourself how much it will cost Canadians.
You attach titles to your bills such as "The Truth in Sentencing Act"
- yet you are not being truthful with Canadians about your crime agenda. You are not being truthful about their ineffectiveness to deter crime - and you are refusing to be truthful about the costs that Canadians will have to pay for these ineffective steps.
As I wrote to you last February, justice above all depends upon truth.
As our country's Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada, your first allegiance must always be to the truth, far beyond any political or partisan gamesmanship. Our system of justice depends upon it. Needless to say, I am once again disappointed that you do not concur with this very basic proposition.
It is a simple fact that the Liberal opposition - and in particular, Liberal senators - have not "stalled" your crime agenda. Once again, the facts speak for themselves:
Your government has introduced 17 crime-related bills in the House of Commons in this session. Of these:
One passed both Houses and received Royal Assent; 4 sit at first reading in the House of Commons, all since late October or early November, without your Government having brought them forward for debate or further action; 8 are being studied in committees in the House of Commons;
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*
One is at report stage in the House of Commons;
*
2 passed the House of Commons in the past few days, and received 1st reading in the Senate on December 7;
*
One came to the Senate on November 18, passed 2nd reading in the Senate, was referred for study to committee, and reported back to the Senate on December 8. It is now at 3rd reading. (It spent more than five months in the House of Commons.) It is clear that Liberal senators have not "stalled" any of these bills. The overwhelming majority - 13 of the 17 bills - remain in the House of Commons.
Your government also chose to initiate five of your crime-related bills in the Senate:4 of these 5 bills passed the Senate; one received Royal Assent.
* The 5th bill, Bill S-10, is currently being debated at 3rd reading.
* Fully 13 of these 22 bills had been previously introduced by this Government, some several times. They died on the Order Paper when Prime Minister Harper prorogued Parliament for his own personal reasons. In other words, their progress was delayed because of the actions of your government.
It reflects poorly on a government when its members must seek to cast blame on others for their own failings. When it is the Minister of Justice - the individual responsible for upholding our laws and regulations, and ensuring that Canada is a just country - then our justice system is eroded.
Minister Nicholson, you cannot expect Canadians to take responsibility for their actions, when you, the head of our justice system, do not.
Accordingly, I am confident that you will wish to quickly correct the record, and acknowledge that the Liberal opposition in the Senate has not in fact "stalled" your Government's anti-crime agenda.
I look forward - once again - to your clarification of these issues for Canadians.
Yours very truly,
James S. Cowan
Cc: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Cc: The Honourable Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the
Senate
February 4, 2010
The Hon. Rob Nicholson, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice
Room 105 EB
The House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Minister Nicholson,
I am writing concerning several statements made by you on Friday, January 29 when defending Prime Minister Harper's appointment of an additional five Conservative Senators. In the past 12 months, Prime Minister Harper has made an unprecedented 32 appointments to the Senate - the most Senate appointments made by any Canadian Prime Minister in a 12-month period since Confederation.
I was puzzled to read press reports in which you defended the latest Senate appointments as necessary to allow your Government "to move forward on [y]our tackling-crime agenda." You accused the Liberal opposition of having "obstructed that agenda in the Senate." According to a transcript of your press conference, you said:
"The Ignatieff Liberals have abused their majority in the Senate by obstructing law and order bills that are urgently needed and strongly supported by Canadians."
I can only assume that you have been misinformed as to the progress of anti-crime legislation. In fact, as I am sure your Cabinet colleague, Senator Marjory LeBreton, would tell you, the overwhelming majority of your Government's anti-crime bills had not even reached the Senate when Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose to prorogue Parliament.
Indeed, an honest examination of the record compels one to acknowledge that the greatest delays to implementation of your justice agenda have resulted from your own Government's actions - sitting on bills and not bringing them forward for debate, delaying bringing legislation into force, and ultimately, of course, proroguing Parliament. That action alone caused some 18 of your justice-related bills to die on the Order Paper.
As a Canadian Press report described, "Indeed, [Prime Minister] Harper himself has done far more to delay his own crime legislation, by proroguing Parliament and other stalling tactics, than Liberal senators have ever done."
Your Government introduced 19 justice-related bills in the House of Commons. Of these, 14 were still in the House of Commons at prorogation. Of the five justice bills that passed the House of Commons and came to the Senate:
two passed the Senate without amendment;
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one (the so-called Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime bill) was tabled by your Government in November in the Senate but not brought forward for further action after that;
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one was passed with four amendments and returned to the House of Commons which did not deal with it before Parliament was prorogued; and
*
one was being studied in committee when Parliament was prorogued and all committee work shut down.
*
There were a further two justice bills that your Government chose to initiate in the Senate. One was passed by the Senate after 14 days, sent to the House of Commons, passed and given Royal Assent. The other was tabled in the Senate on April 1, but has not been brought forward by your Government for any further action since then.
*
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In terms of the status of the 14 law-and-order bills in the House of Commons, that had not yet reached the Senate when Parliament was
prorogued:
Four of these bills have been sitting in the House of Commons at first reading, three in that state since October, and one since November - your Government chose not to bring any of these bills forward for second reading debate.
Another bill, Bill C-19, was tabled in the House of Commons by your Government in March, 2009, brought forward for two days of second reading debate in June, and not brought forward for any further action since then.
* Similarly, Bill C-35 was tabled in June, brought forward for one day of second reading debate in October, and no further action taken since then.
* Seven justice-related bills were being studied in Committee in the House of Commons as of prorogation. That work, of course, was required to stop immediately upon prorogation.
* One bill - Bill C-34, the Protecting Victims from Sex Offenders bill - got as far as to be reported back from the House of Commons Committee on December 7, before dying on the Order Paper with the Government's prorogation of Parliament.
* I fail to understand how this factual record could lead you to say, as you did in your press conference that, "the record also shows that the Liberals are soft on crime" or that the Liberals in the Senate "obstructed" law and order bills. In fact, as I am sure you will now recognize, it is your Government that has failed to move forward a number of your own anti-crime bills. And, of course, by choosing to prorogue Parliament, Prime Minister Harper chose to let 18 of his Government's 21 "tough-on-crime" bills die on the Order Paper.
Comparing the numbers, Canadians would have to conclude that it is the Harper Conservatives who have chosen to obstruct law and order bills - while shamelessly trying to smear the Liberals and the Senate with the blame.
It is difficult to take a law-and-order agenda seriously when it is argued with so little respect for facts. Justice above all depends upon truth. As our country's Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada, your first allegiance must always be to the truth, far beyond any political or partisan gamesmanship. Our system of justice depends upon it. How can Canadians have any confidence in their justice system, if the person responsible for that system - the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada - is prepared to play fast and loose with the truth?
In your press conference, you pointed to three bills as evidence of Liberal Senators' supposed "obstruction" of your Government's agenda:
Bills C-15, C-25 and C-26.
Bill C-15 was passed by the Senate with four amendments. These amendments represented our advice to the House of Commons, reflecting what we heard and concluded after listening to testimony from Canadians about the bill. That is our job as members of the second legislative House of Canada's Parliament. We fully expected to hear back from the House of Commons with that House's considered response to our advice. Unfortunately, that was not to be: instead, Prime Minister Harper chose to prorogue Parliament. The Senate's work - done in the best tradition of Canadian parliamentary democracy - was lost.
While we may disagree as to whether the Senate's amendments improved the bill (as I would say) or weakened it (as you would say) what cannot be truthfully said is that the Senate either delayed or obstructed the passage of the bill.
What "killed" the bill in the end, was not the Senate but the Prime Minister in shutting down Parliament before the House of Commons had a chance to consider the amendments proposed by the Senate.
I was particularly surprised that you referred to Bill C-25 during your press conference. That bill, which dealt with limiting credit for time spent in pre-sentencing custody, passed the Senate without any amendments on October 21, 2009, yet as of this writing, according to the Library of Parliament and the Privy Council Office, the bill has still not been brought into force by your Government - more than three months later. One is left to wonder whether you simply forgot to bring it into force? Or was the bill more about the appearance of being "tough on crime" than actually taking action? Certainly we now know that bill was not as urgent a priority for the Harper Government as was initially represented.
Finally, Bill C-26 was being studied by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee when Parliament prorogued. As of prorogation, that bill had been in the Senate for 38 days. By comparison, the bill spent 42 days in the House of Commons. Committee study of proposed legislation is what many observers say is among the best work of the Senate. I am sure you want Canada's criminal legislation to be the best and most effective it can be, and would agree that the proposed changes to the Criminal Code regarding auto theft require careful study consistent with our parliamentary system.
Unfortunately, that work had to cease because of prorogation.
As Minister of Justice, and as a personal proponent of a strong law- and-order agenda, you have a duty, which I am sure you recognize, to uphold the truth and not mislead Canadians. Accordingly, I am confident that you will wish to quickly correct the record, and agree that the Liberal opposition in the Senate has not in fact "obstructed"
your Government's anti-crime agenda. To the contrary, the greatest delays to the implementation of your agenda have been due to your own Government's actions in failing to bring bills forward for debate, dragging your feet in bringing legislation into force, and most significantly, proroguing Parliament.
I look forward to your clarification of these issues for Canadians.
Yours very truly,
James S. Cowan
Cc: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Cc: The Honourable Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the
Senate
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