Prime Minister Stephen Harper is flying to a weekend summit in Colombia where his hard line on drugs will put him at odds with some Latin American leaders who are calling for a debate over whether drug use should be decriminalized.
Harper's position on Cuba also could run afoul of a possible consensus by countries in central and South America.
Harper is attending the Summit of the Americas, a conference of leaders from 34 nations that is held every three years.
The talks this year will include such issues as trade expansion, and Harper will meet with senior business executives from Canada and elsewhere who are attending the summit to discuss investment in the Western Hemisphere. Read more »
The Conservatives' controversial crime bill will be put to final vote Monday night in the House of Commons, a few days later than the government expected.
It had planned to pass Bill C-10 last Wednesday, but the NDP was able to delay the last day of debate until Friday and push the final vote to today.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and other Tory MPs had even held a news conference on Wednesday to mark what was supposed to be the last time MPs dealt with the bill.
It had been sent back to the Commons by the Senate because of amendments made to the part of the bill that gives Canadians the ability to sue perpetrators and supporters of terrorism. Read more »
The expected passage of the government's omnibus crime bill has been pushed back to Monday.
Debate on the bill is expected to continue in the House of Commons Friday, with a vote now slated for next week.
On Wednesday, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and associate defence minister Julian Fantino, a former police chief, held an event to tout Bill C-10 in anticipation of a final vote on the controversial proposals in the House of Commons.
They were joined by representatives from victims' groups at a community centre in Woodbridge, Ont., where Nicholson said the bill meets the expectations of Canadians and is responding to what is happening on Canada's streets. Read more »
According to Statistics Canada, 2010 closed with the 33rd consecutive drop in both the rate and the severity of crime across Canada. Despite this, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has reintroduced their much-anticipated "law and order" agenda in the form of the colossal crime bill, C-10. Dubbed the Safe Streets and Communities Act, it combines nine of the former bills that had failed to pass into law due to opposition and repeated prorogations of Parliament.
Still other criminal law bills that failed to pass previously have been re-introduced separately by the Conservatives, focusing on tightening both our online freedoms and Canadian immigration law.
Safe streets and communities: Who wouldn't want that?Read more »
The Conservative government’s incompetence in drafting Bill C-10 is yet another reason they need to rethink the omnibus crime bill, said Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Liberal Justice and Human Rights critic Irwin Cotler today.
“The fact that the Minister of Public Safety was unaware of what was included in his own bill–or in this case, missing from it–is embarrassing and seems to be part of a troubling pattern with Ministers in this government,” said Mr. Rae. “It took the Liberal Party to pinpoint the holes in this government’s omnibus crime bill and present substantive amendments that even the Conservatives have now agreed were necessary.” Read more »
Canada's senators burnt the midnight oil Thursday as they wrapped up debate on the Conservatives' controversial crime bill.
The Tories' majority in the upper chamber helped pass their legislation in the face of stiff opposition from Liberal senators, two independents and one Conservative member, who voted against his party.
In the end the vote, 48 in favour to 37 opposed, was closer than expected, with nine Conservatives missing the midnight event along with seven Liberals and one independent.
Bill C-10, which was amended by a Senate committee, will be returned to the Commons for a final vote next week. Read more »
The government’s omnibus crime bill was being pushed through its final test in the Senate for no good reason, Liberal senators charged Thursday.
Their words, however, were unable to change the trajectory of the bill’s path to becoming law, as the Conservatives used their majority in the Senate to give final approval — by a vote of 48 to 37 — to the bill before it returns to the House of Commons.
Once in the Commons, MPs would have to approve the six changes Conservative senators made to the bill that more clearly define terrorism activities and how victims of terrorism can sue groups or states that support terrorism.
Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, passed its final vote in the Senate at about midnight Friday. Read more »
The Harper government is prioritizing new prison spending over maintaining seniors' retirement benefits, for reasons known only to itself.
It's a puzzling choice. If real benefits were to be achieved as a result of the additional billions being put toward incarceration, the choice would make more sense.
But, as a warning letter last week from a group of U.S. law enforcers advised Canada's senators, there will be no payoff.
This, when Human Resources Minister Diane Finley has just confirmed the upcoming federal budget will outline age-based eligibility delays to Old Age Security, for even the neediest seniors.
Elderly single women likely will bear the brunt of any Conservative move to delay OAS eligibility to 67. Read more »
The federal government's omnibus crime bill will be heading back to the House of Commons after senators approved changes to Bill C-10 early Monday.
The changes, proposed by Ontario Conservative Senator Bob Runciman, were approved easily, but changes Liberal senators wanted to the Safe Streets and Communities Act received a tougher ride, including a failed proposal to raise the number of marijuana plants one could legally grow to 20 from six.
The Conservative senators on the Senate legal affairs committee used their majority to reject all 17 changes the Liberals proposed. Read more »
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The Conservatives' controversial crime bill will be put to final vote Monday night in the House of Commons, a few days later than the government expected.
The expected passage of the government's omnibus crime bill has been pushed back to Monday.
According to Statistics Canada, 2010 closed with the 33rd consecutive drop in both the rate and the severity of crime across Canada. Despite this, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has reintroduced their much-anticipated "law and order" agenda in the form of the colossal crime bill, C-10. Dubbed the Safe Streets and Communities Act, it combines nine of the former bills that had failed to pass into law due to opposition and repeated prorogations of Parliament.
The Conservative government’s incompetence in drafting Bill C-10 is yet another reason they need to rethink the omnibus crime bill, said Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Liberal Justice and Human Rights critic Irwin Cotler today.
Canada's senators burnt the midnight oil Thursday as they wrapped up debate on the Conservatives' controversial crime bill.
The government’s omnibus crime bill was being pushed through its final test in the Senate for no good reason, Liberal senators charged Thursday.
The Harper government is prioritizing new prison spending over maintaining seniors' retirement benefits, for reasons known only to itself.
The federal government's omnibus crime bill will be heading back to the House of Commons after senators approved changes to Bill C-10 early Monday.
