The Omnibus crime bill cleared the House of Commons yesterday much to nobody’s surprise. There remains the faintest of hopes that we will still see some amendments but I am certainly not going to hold my breath. Mind you the way this “debate” has been handled it would be fair to expect the absurd rather than business as usual so who knows.
At any rate there isn’t really much at all to report on at this point. The bill cleared the house with a solid majority of votes: 157-127, to be exact. Now it just has to go to the Senate but since the Tories have a clear majority there as well we can expect to see the omnibus train wreck (to mix metaphors) become law pretty soon.
I apologize for the jaded nature of this particular post but it has been a frustrating process to say the least. I will continue to maintain hope that we will see some amendments but if I had to bet my money I would say we should expect pardons to become record suspensions very soon. We can expect to see certain categories of offenders excluded from the program, putting them on a clear path towards a consistent life of crime. And we can expect see the waiting periods for eligibility to be extended.
As for the other measures in the bill, more qualified people have commented on them extensively. There is no shortage of criticism. So I will just leave it at that.