Tactics just delay justice for those denied justice

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This article was published 19/12/2023 (744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a shameful display of politics at any cost, adding insult to people already injured by justice system mistakes.

A historic bill introduced by the federal Liberal government to deliver justice more expeditiously to the wrongfully convicted is, itself, being deliberately delayed by the Conservative party.

It’s not because the Tories have an issue with Bill C-40, the aptly named Joyce and David Milgaard Law, which would create the first truly independent commission for the review of wrongful-conviction claims. From all available evidence, the Conservatives support C-40 but remain committed to keeping it in committee.

C-40 passed second reading in the House of Commons in June, triggering a committee review.

Normally, unless the legislation is particularly contentious, the committee can get its work done in a few days, or a couple of weeks, at most. Then, the bill goes to the Senate for consideration, the last stage before royal assent.

But there is no indication the bill will go to the Senate anytime soon. On Friday, the last day of the current session of Parliament, the bill was still being subjected to a filibuster by Tory members of the justice committee.

There is no forecast now for when it will get to the upper house.

Why would a bill with such noble intentions be delayed at the standing committee on justice with no end in sight?

Like many other pieces of legislation currently before Parliament, C-40 has been caught up in the Conservatives’ war against the federal carbon tax.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre threatened in early December to table thousands of amendments to legislation and use other procedural tactics — including the filibuster — to create parliamentary gridlock unless the Liberals scrapped elements of its controversial carbon tax. In particular, Poilievre wants the tax removed from all sources of home heating, some farming activities and all First Nations.

“You will have no rest until the tax is gone,” a feisty Poilievre thundered. We will have no relief for the wrongfully convicted, either.

There is nothing inherently immoral about the Tory tactics. Delaying or jamming up Parliament to protest government laws or policies is a perfectly acceptable practice within a functioning democracy.

But it is also a strategy that is rife with risk for those wielding the filibuster.

There will be many Canadians, particularly those who support Poilievre’s Conservatives, who are relishing the battle in Ottawa. In fact, political operatives often argue that filibusters and other procedural delays are more about pandering to core support, and less about fighting a good fight on a point of principle.

The carbon tax war Poilievre is waging now is, shall we say, a good case in point.

The Tory leader believes the carbon tax is responsible for just about everything that is wrong in society right now, most notably high inflation. Sober analysis of the federal tax on fossil fuels shows that it has had a negligible impact on inflation, particularly when it comes to things such as food. But why let hard numbers get in the way of a good political riff?

And why let those numbers get in the way of a late-year fundraising campaign? The Tories are broadcasting every thrust and parry of Poilievre’s war on the carbon tax to core supporters along with a request to dig a bit deeper for donations.

In theory, then, the procedural wrangling is a win-win for the Tories: they get to torment the Liberals and collect more money. That does not mean the Liberals are standing by idly while C-40 is undone at committee.

The Tory strategy on C-40 has not only been denounced by the Liberal government and NDP opposition, which has an agreement to support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the current session of Parliament. Important advocates for the wrongfully convicted are also expressing their concern.

James Lockyer, Canada’s foremost lawyer in the area of wrongful conviction and a representative of Innocence Canada, said he is more than alarmed that after decades of lobbying for an independent commission, C-40 is being sacrificed for a political campaign that has nothing to do with the fate of the wrongfully convicted.

“We are very disturbed and troubled that this legislation, which is so desperately needed, is going to be derailed by a filibuster,” Lockyer said. “We would ask the Conservatives to rethink their strategy as soon as possible.”

It would be wonderful if a statement like that had an impact on the Tory strategy. There is no evidence to suggest that it has. And all efforts to contact Conservative MP Rob Moore, the vice-chair of the justice committee, went unanswered.

You can try to politically justify the filibuster on C-40 in whatever terms you find suitable.

Collateral damage in pursuit of a larger pursuit? Summary judgment and punishment for a Liberal government that, despite its minority mandate, continues to march around Parliament Hill with the arrogance of a majority government?

Whatever the rationalization, the undoing of Bill C-40 at committee amounts to a delay in justice for a constituency of Canadians who have already been denied justice.

And while that may be good politics in the moment, it’s a very bad expression of the state of our democracy in the long term.

» Dan Lett is a Winnipeg Free Press columnist. This column originally ran in the Free Press.