VZCZCXYZ0013
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHOT #0084/01 0222033
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 222030Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0300
INFO ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000084 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER CA
SUBJECT: CANADA POISED TO TIGHTEN CRIME SENTENCING RULES 
 
REF: TORONTO 54; TORONTO 62 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Although PM Harper continues to criticize 
sentencing provisions in Canada that permit terrorists and 
criminals, including at least one convicted "Toronto 18" terrorist, 
to obtain enhanced sentencing credit for time served in pre-trial 
custody, Parliament actually passed a government bill to end 
in-custody credit in October 2009.  The government, for its own 
as-yet-undisclosed reasons, will not enact it until February.  In 
2009, the government passed only three out of its 17 justice bills. 
The Conservatives continue to trumpet their crime agenda and to 
highlight it as one of the main policy planks in the upcoming new 
session of Parliament.  End summary. 
 
 
 
BLAME THE LIBERALS... 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) At a scheduled stop in Truro, Nova Scotia to make an 
infrastructure funding announcement on January 21, Prime Minister 
Stephen Harper unusually volunteered during a press scrum to answer 
a question reporters had not even asked:  how did he react to 
public "outrage" over the latest sentence handed down in the 
"Toronto 18" terror case?   (On January 20 a Toronto court had 
sentenced Amin Mohamed Durrani to one day in prison for his role in 
the plot after the judge reduced Durrani's 7.5 year prison sentence 
for time served - ref a.)   PM Harper said that he understood 
Canadians' shock. Without addressing the specifics of the Durrani 
sentence, he criticized current sentencing rules that award two-for 
one or even - though rarely -  three-for-one credit for time in 
pre-trial custody.  He underscored that his government would end 
the practice and would make criminals serve more time after 
conviction. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U)  PM Harper said that "unfortunately" a new Canadian would 
not apply in the latest terror sentencing.  He complained that "it 
took us a long time" to get the law through Parliament, given that 
his minority government faced obstruction "in both [legislative] 
houses...every step of the way."  He credited minority Conservative 
senators for fighting "pitched battles" with Liberal senators to 
push the bill through, arguing that Liberal senators "kept gutting" 
the legislation.  The struggle, he said, underscored the need for 
more Conservative senators "to ensure that laws move faster in the 
future."  There are currently five vacancies in the Senate that the 
PM may fill before Parliament returns on March 3.  The appointments 
would give the Conservatives a 51 to 49 plurality over the Liberals 
in the 105-seat Senate as well as an effective, but not absolute 
majority in the chamber for the first time since the Conservatives 
took office in 2006.  In a televised speech the following day to 
the federal Conservative caucus on January 22, PM Harper claimed 
that his government's tough-on-crime agenda had made Canadians 
"safer." 
 
 
 
TRUTH IN SENTENCING 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) The federal government had introduced a "Truth in 
Sentencing Act" (C-25) to eliminate pre-trial credits in March 
¶2009.  The bill provided the courts with sentencing guidance and 
ended credit for time served for all but exceptional cases. 
Specifically, the legislation capped credit for time in custody at 
a 1:1 ratio, with a ratio of up to 1.5:1 only where circumstances 
justified it and where courts could explain it.  The bill 
eliminated extra credit under any circumstances for individuals 
detained because of their criminal record or because they violated 
bail. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Impetus for the bill came from an agreement reached during 
meetings of justice ministers at the federal, provincial and 
territorial levels in 2006 and 2007.  Under Canada's correctional 
system, defendants are held in provincial remand facilities prior 
to trial, conviction, and sentencing. The federal government has 
argued that some prisoners "game" the system by dragging out time 
in pre-trial custody to reduce their sentences and thereby clog 
remand facilities and courts.  Some legal experts have argued, 
however, that the government's new tougher crime laws and court 
inefficiencies are causing the remand backlog. 
 
C-25 NOT A LAGGARD 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U)  In practice, the Truth in Sentencing Act proved to be one 
of the speedier bills to pass in 2009.  The bill took only seven 
months to pass both the House of Commons and the Senate -- 
including the three month summer recess.  The government introduced 
17 justice bills in 2009, of which only three -- C-25 the Truth in 
Sentencing bill, C-14 to stiffen sentencing for offences committed 
in connection with organized crime, and S-4 to prevent identity 
theft -- passed into law.  High-profile law-and-order bills on the 
government's "safe streets" agenda -- including bills to raise 
sentences for major crime, eliminate sentencing discounts for 
multiple murders, and deny access to early parole for first and 
second degree murderers -- were lost following the prorogation 
(suspension) of Parliament on December 31, which terminated all 
incomplete legislation.  Three justice bills died in the late 
stages of process in the Senate. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U)  The Truth in Sentencing bill spent just over two months in 
the House of Commons and passed without amendment on June 8.  It 
spent four months in the Senate (including the recess). In all, the 
Senate took only six working weeks to complete all stages (first, 
second, and third readings, as well as committee hearings) of the 
bill.  During the hearings, Liberal senators had initially amended 
the bill to restore credit for time served to a maximum of 1.5:1 
for pre-trial custody and 2:1 where circumstances warranted in 
order to preserve judicial discretion.  However, Conservative 
senators managed to defeat the amendments (44:30) and to pass the 
original version of the bill on October 21.  Reportedly, Liberal 
Leader Michael Ignatieff insisted privately that the party not be 
seen as "soft on crime," prompting some Liberal Senators to absent 
themselves from the vote.  C-25 received Royal Assent (the final 
legislative stage) on October 22.  The bill was not affected by 
prorogation of Parliament on December 31, 2009. 
 
 
 
PASSED, YET NOT ENACTED... 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U)  Canadian legislation carries a coming-into-force provision 
that varies with each bill.  In the case of C-25, the bill comes 
into force "on a day to be fixed by the Governor-in-Council," 
effectively, by cabinet order.  According to contacts in the 
Justice Minister's office, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) told 
them only on January 22 that PMO had set the coming-into-force date 
for February 22, 2010 -- four months after the bill received Royal 
Assent. 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Comment:  The Conservatives have used the crime agenda 
to great effect, making it an essential part of their "brand," in 
spite of the fact that they have not actually passed most of their 
proposed crime and security legislation.  The PMO apparently 
provided no explanation why it will end up waiting four months to 
enact its own sentencing credit law, but the delay has not 
prevented the PM from using crime -- and the bill -- as a partisan 
issue and to prep for imminent Senate appointments. 
JACOBSON