With an election off the table for the time being, the federal Conservatives advanced their law and order agenda this week with two new laws targeting crime.
The two new bills include one designed to make it easier for police to intercept Internet communications and another that would put an end to conditional sentences for a host of serious crimes.
St. Albert member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber said police agencies have been telling the government that BlackBerrys and text messages have become tools for crime syndicates.
"Technology has advanced to such a point where law enforcement is having a very difficult time keeping up with organized crime," he said.
The new law will require Internet service providers as well as cellphone companies to install and maintain the necessary technology to allow police to intercept messages if they have obtained a warrant to do so.
Rathgeber said in the past officers have obtained the necessary warrants only to discover they couldn't access the messages.
"Sometimes a warrant was of no value. A judge would allow the interception, but nobody would have a way of interpreting the information because of the coded way that these messages are transmitted or received."
The new legislation also allows the police to get basic subscriber information from telecommunications companies without a warrant.
Rathgeber said the government wanted to give police the powers they need while still protecting privacy rights. The legislation makes it clear that only some officers will be given the authority and that the process will be subject to regular external audits.
Rathgeber said police often need that basic information before they can even ask for a search warrant.
"The number of variations on my email address could be in the millions, but by getting the basic information from my service provider, at that point they can get a warrant."
House arrest restricted
The Conservative party's other crime bill would severely curtail the use of conditional sentences, eliminating them for a long list of serious crimes.
The bill would eliminate house arrest if the maximum jail time for the offence is 14 years or more. Under specific circumstances it would also exclude drug importing, production and trafficking as well as many weapons offences.
Rathgeber said the government believes these crimes warrant jail time.
"We don't believe that people who commit armed robbery should be sentenced to six months of house arrest," he said. "Our government believes that judges have on occasion been exercising leniency when it comes to serious and violent offences."
He said despite the additional costs of housing prisoners, he believes criminals need a clear message that they don't get through house arrest.
"The type of offences are covered by this legislation are of such a serious nature that we believe a message must be sent not only to the individuals that are convicted, but to anybody that might be contemplating a similar lifestyle."
