Liberal Party of Canada: Disingenuous on Crime

Liberal Party won't revisit crime bills they railed against

As the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda weaved its way through Parliament, Canadians were repeatedly barraged by the Liberal Party's objections, particularly through the very loud voice of Mark Holland.

Over and over again, the Liberals denounced the program as "dumb on crime".

So should they somehow manage to win the 2011 federal election, one may expect that the Liberal Party would change the country's course on the issue.

Think again.

"I don't see anything right now that we need to go back and undo," Liberal Public Safety critic Mark Holland announced.

Holland claimed that the only change the Liberal Party would make would be to accure additional funds to crime prevention programs. In fact, he insisted that's the first thing the Liberals would do.

Yet with all the myriad complaints that the Liberals raised about moves such as abolishing the 2-for-1 time served credit -- at one point even suggesting it was unconstitutional -- it's remarkable that they would plan to allow all of those changes to stand.

On one hand, it's almost a sign that the Liberal Party just might get it: the idea that crime is a real issue that Canadians are deeply concerned about, as opposed to an ideological wedge with which to gain votes from the hug-a-thug soft-on-crime crowd.

But on the other hand, it's a sign that Liberals aren't prepared to make difficult changes themselves, but are willing to whine loudly while other governments make those very changes.

Simply put, the Liberal party seems to get that Canada's anti-crime regime needed to be toughened significantly. They just weren't willing to do their own dirt.

Dumb on crime? Tough on crime? Soft on crime?

Mark Holland and the Liberals have just managed to coin one of their very own: disingenous on crime.