Stéphane Dion Missing in Action on Crime Vote

February 13, 2008

Yesterday, Stéphane Dion demonstrated that he is more concerned about appeasing the Liberal insiders in the Senate than he is with ensuring Canadian families have safer streets.

The Dion Liberals staged an orchestrated walk-out of the House of Commons in order to avoid voting on a motion that might anger their unelected, unaccountable Liberal colleagues in the Senate.

For months now, these same unelected, unaccountable Liberal Senators have been using every tool at their disposal to obstruct the Tackling Violent Crime Act, a badly needed new law that will keep violent offenders behind bars.

That is why the Conservative Government introduced a motion in the House of Commons calling on the Senate to pass this badly needed crime legislation by March 1st. The motion clearly states that if the Senate fails to do so it could constitute a loss of confidence and lead to a new election.

Stéphane Dion had an opportunity to stand and call for swift passage of this new law. Instead he chose to walk out and hide from this vote. By not standing up to his Liberal insider friends he is endorsing their obstruction tactics.

By putting the interests of Liberal insiders ahead of those of Canadian families, Stéphane Dion is reminding Canadians just how risky any government he led would be.