Refreshing candour

It's not often that  government ministers admit defeat. Yet surely that's what was happening yesterday, when Justice Minister Rob Nicholson held a news conference to acknowledge that Conservatives have not been able to get Liberals to hurry up and pass law-and-order measures -- measures  that are apparently urgently needed by Canadians. 

In other words, it seems, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in three meetings with  Michael Ignatieff last week, apparently couldn't get the Liberal leader to help him out.  Or he didn't raise the issue. Which is kind of curious, given how urgent this apparently is. Or maybe it just got urgent  yesterday.

The Star's Tonda MacCharles asked the Justice Minister yesterday whether the law-and-order issue was on the table during the Harper-Ignatieff meetings last week. Here's a bit of the Q and A from the press conference -- I believe Nicholson is saying that it wasn't part of the discussions, but you be the judge.

MacCharles: Have you called Mr. Ignatieff and tried to have a discussion with him about moving this bill through? You've heard from Marjory LeBreton and if you haven't, did your Prime Minister raise it in the discussions with Ignatieff last week? Have you had any discussions behind closed doors with them?

 

 Nicholson: Well, the, the process is similar to when I was the Government House Leader. We take these matters up on a regular basis with our colleagues and the other parties in both places and this is why I specifically quoted Marjory LeBreton and what is happening to our drug bill in the Senate, and believe me, I'm, I work very closely with Jay Hill who is the Government Leader in the House of Commons, with respect to

 MacCharles:   So have you talked to Mr. Ignatieff?

 Nicholson: No. Exactly. I'm saying on both counts. I mean I, as you can see, we're stalled on our legislation right across the board here, whether it's the House of Commons or the Senate and I'm specifically concerned about this drug bill and again, I work through the Government Leader in the Senate.