Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday the Minister of Justice announced he will introduce draft legislation that would cap the credit given to criminals for the time spent in custody before trial, a practice that developed under 13 years of Liberal soft-on-crime government.
Now the Liberals are using this serious issue to try to gain political points. The Liberal justice critic is even attempting to take credit for this initiative, saying:
[The Minister of Justice]...is catching up to a position we've been holding for a number of weeks.
I would like to remind the hon. member that this is not an issue that magically appeared during the last weeks. It has been an issue for many years, one that has been ignored by Liberals. In fact, we Conservatives have long campaigned to cap credit for time served. I guess newly converted Liberal crime fighters still have a lot to learn.
Given the overwhelming support the government is receiving for the initiative, I encourage the opposition to encourage speedy passage of this important measure when it is introduced in the House.