Liberals and Conservatives vote to prioritize bail bill over study on controversial hate crimes law

OTTAWA — Members of Parliament on the House of Commons’ justice committee voted Monday in favour of pausing its study on a controversial government hate crimes bill, to instead turn its attention to the Liberals’ package of bail reforms. 

The move comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney has set his sights on seeing his suite of criminal reforms passed as Parliament resumes, with the Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pledging that his MPs stand ready to help. 

With a spirit of cooperation in the air, MPs on the justice committee, save for the Bloc Quebecois, voted in favour of a Liberal motion to pause its clause-by-clause study of Bill C-9 and instead focus its efforts on studying Bill C-14, the government’s latest bail reform package.

The committee’s plan was to return to the study of Bill C-9, known by its legislative title as the “Combatting Hate Act,” once it finishes looking at the Liberals’ proposed bail measures, including hearing testimony from Justice Minister Sean Fraser.

The hate crimes bill, which was first introduced back in September, has received widespread criticism from religious leaders since the Liberals voted to adopt an amendment from the Bloc Quebecois that would remove from the Criminal Code the religious exemptions from the country’s hate speech laws.

Fraser has defended the move as necessary to ensure the bill’s passage through the minority Parliament and pushed back against concerns that it would impact religious freedoms, which the minister has said the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects.

More to come …

National Post

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