Canadian Government's Fall Means Pardons Secure for Now

During its term of office, Canada’s Conservative Government was quite successful in its signature campaign to make Canadian criminal law tougher, passing amendments to the law which have, among other things, raised the age of sexual consent, allowed judges to impose consecutive parole ineligibility periods for multiple murders, and raised the pardon ineligibility period for those who commit violent personal injury offences from 5 to 10 years after serving their sentence. This series of measures would have continued in the same vein, including one of the Government’s most controversial measures, Bill C-23B, which was set to make pardons in Canada significantly harder to get. But before the Government had a chance to finish promoting it, this bill (and all other legislation currently in Parliament) suddenly died due to due to the prospect of an impending early election.



In late 2010, the hotly debated Bill C-23B, which was set to rename pardons "record suspensions", deny them to people who have committed three or more indictable offences, and give the Parole Board of Canada more discretion in deciding whether to grant them, was heavily criticized by opposition parties as an unnecessary and counterproductive measure before Parliament adjourned for the winter holidays. In spite of this, the law managed to pass second reading in the House of Commons, and was referred to a parliamentary committee for further evaluation, as per the usual custom. The committee was scheduled to continue discussing the bill in April.



On 14 March, however, scandal erupted as the Liberals and New Democrats accused the Government of breaches of ethical rules. Among other things, the Prime Minister was accused of having spent a great deal of taxpayers’ money on promoting himself and his party. Then, on 25 March, the Opposition rejected the budget tabled by the minority Conservatives. A vote of no-confidence ensued, and was sustained by 156 votes to 145. The inevitable outcome followed: the following Saturday, at the Prime Minister’s request, Governor General David Johnson dissolved Parliament – a mere formality at this point – and called an election for 2 May.



The immediate practical result of the dissolution of Canada’s 40th Parliament is that all bills currently before the House of Commons and the Senate automatically die, including C-23B. For the time being, this long-anticipated legislative threat to the current pardons system has been put at bay.



But this is no reason for those who are currently eligible for a pardon to let their guard down and not take advantage of the opportunity that lies before them to apply for one. A recent poll shows that 43% of Canadians support the Conservative party, an indication that the Opposition’s no-confidence vote could backfire with the Conservatives gaining a majority government. Should this happen, we can rest assured that a bill resembling the now-defunct C-23B will be introduced into Parliament, perhaps shortly after the new government takes up office, and that this time around, passage of the bill would be a foregone conclusion. So while pardons are not set to become subject to stricter rules for the time being, there is a strong likelihood that, in fact, only a little time has been bought. Logically, therefore, there is no better time than now to start the process of applying for a pardon – this could be the last chance to do so before more stringent "record suspensions" set in.