Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae speaks te reporters after his party's Parliament Hill caucus meeting on Sept. 21, 2011.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
There is virtually no way for the opposition to derail an omnibus Conservative crime bill that's been criticized for its high costs and punitive focus – but Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae says the measures may last only until the next election.
"Whoever forms the government after this government is going to have to do a wholesale review of the Criminal Code and deal with all of the mess that's been created by the Conservatives. They are creating a huge mess in criminal justice," Mr. Rae said Wednesday after his party's weekly caucus meeting.
Of course, it will be at least four years – and potentially much longer than that – before any party gets a chance to do that kind of reconstruction.
The omnibus crime bill, which is expected to cost taxpayers billions of dollars, would toughen punishments for a range of offenders, from drug dealers to sexual predators. The Conservatives point to the majority they received in the spring election as a broad endorsement of their justice policies.
But criminal justice experts say the legislation will do little to make streets safer while adding to the overcrowding of prisons, particularly at the provincial level.
"The [provincial]attorneys-general are going to be coming at us like gangbusters, the premiers are going to be coming at us talking about what the effect is," Mr. Rae said.
For four years after Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government was first elected, the Liberals were reluctant to oppose justice bills they believed to be regressive for fear of being labelled soft on crime. That changed about a years and a half ago when Liberal critics began picking apart some crime bills and complaining about their cost.
"I am not looking backwards, I am looking forwards and I see this as a very significant issue and it's one on which we do part company with the Conservatives and I think it's important for us to state very clearly how and why we do," Mr. Rae said. "We have to be smart on crime as a country and we have to have a reasoned debate about this issue."