Watching what has unfolded in Parliament over the last year makes me wonder whether the NDP and Liberal Members of Parliament are at all serious about cracking down on crime. They appear to be playing politics with the Federal Anti-Crime Bills, rather than doing what is right – and that is to allow speedy passage of the Federal legislation.

Since January, 2006 the Federal Liberals and the NDP have voted against and/or stalled several Conservative pieces of legislation, which included:
- Mandatory jail time for serious gun crimes
- Tough bail rules when a gun is used to commit crimes
- Increasing the age of protection for sexual activity from 14 to 16 years
- Cracking down on drug-impaired driving
- Ensuring that high-risk and dangerous offenders face tougher consequences when they are sentenced and,
- The dismantling of the Federal Gun Registry.

The Federal NDP and the Federal Liberals are soft on crime – so is the Provincial NDP. If Gary Doer and our Minister of Justice were serious about making it more difficult for criminals, they would speak to Jack Layton and their Federal colleagues and they would insist that the NDP support the Conservative Anti-Crime Bills.

Last month the Premier and the Minister of Justice in a Press Conference stood side by side with Jack Layton and publicly announced that they would support the Federal Anti-Crime Bills – yet a few short weeks later, they reversed their support and instead stood shoulder to shoulder with criminals. Instead of flip-flopping on this issue, the Premier and the Minister of Justice should call the NDP Federal leader, Jack Layton, and insist that he and the rest of his caucus support Federal Conservative Anti-Crime legislation. But we all know that that call will not be made!