Unelected senators thumb noses at Canadians on crime, Senate reform: Harper

The prime minister's tirade came just a few hours after the Liberal-dominated upper house concluded its spring sitting with a flurry of activity, passing eight bills, including the government's coveted budget implementation legislation.

Harper didn't waste time thanking the Senate for what it accomplished. Rather, he concentrated on what it didn't do.

He pointed to four crime bills that "remain bogged down" in the red chamber and another, imposing a limit of eight years on senatorial terms, that the Liberal majority has shelved indefinitely.

"They are delaying important crime legislation and derailing our legislation to reduce senators' terms from up to 45 years to a maximum of eight years," Harper told a news conference wrapping up the parliamentary sitting.

"Canadians want safe streets and accountable legislators and they won't stand for an institution that stands in their way."

Harper was particularly scathing about the Liberal senators' failure to pass a bill aimed at making it more difficult for those who commit gun crimes to win release on bail.

"Our bail reforms are backed by police, prosecutors, big city mayors, the NDP and the Ontario Liberals. But not by the Liberal majority in the Senate," he said.

"They have not merely defied the government, they have defied elected members of Parliament, public opinion and all common sense."

Liberals were quick to point out that the bail bill was only received by the Senate two weeks ago and, thus, can hardly be called stalled. Another crime bill, imposing mandatory minimum sentences for firearms offences, has been before the Senate for only three weeks while a third has been in the upper chamber for six weeks.

Moreover, the Liberals pointed out that they offered to fast-track the bail bill months ago but the government never took them up on the offer.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion mocked Harper for trying to manufacture a constitutional crisis over the Senate.

"Another constitutional crisis that is not of the scope of the ones we used to have," he scoffed when asked about the so-called foot-dragging on the crime bills.

As for the term limit bill, Dion said Harper has only himself to blame for creating a mess because he failed to consult with the provinces before launching his Senate reform agenda.

"The prime minister should blame himself for all this because the Senate did its job in a professional way."

With many constitutional experts and four provinces, including Quebec and Ontario, insisting that provincial consent is needed to impose term limits, Liberal senators voted to put the bill on ice until the government gets a green light from the Supreme Court to proceed unilaterally.

But Harper said the Senate made a "tragic mistake that will exclude them from the process." In blocking the bill, he said the Liberals have signalled that they are going to oppose even the smallest "baby steps" toward Senate reform.

"I think the public is growing very tired of the Senate in its current form and I think the Senate has made a tragic mistake in misjudging that public mood."