The Conservatives introduced their new tough-on-crime legislation in the House of Commons on Thursday, challenging the Liberals to find a reason not to pass it.

"We will be holding [the opposition], particularly the Liberals, to account on this," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said at a news conference in Ottawa after the bill was introduced.

"If they are serious about fighting crime … they should have no problem expediting this bill through the legislative process."

The Conservatives have declared Bill C-2, also known as the Tackling Violent Crime Bill, a matter of confidence. If the bill doesn't pass, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government will fall and an election will be called.

The bill contains elements of several previous crime bills that were never made into law during the last session of Parliament. Three of those bills passed in the House of Commons after opposition parties made amendments to them, but the bills then got stalled in the Liberal-dominated Senate.

The bills died at the end of the previous parliamentary session. 

Under the new crime bill, the age of consent for sex with someone at least two years older would rise to 16 from 14, there would be higher mandatory sentences for gun crimes, accused gun offenders would be subject to restricted bail, and those charged with impaired driving would face higher penalties.

One element of the new bill that is likely to concern opposition parties, particularly the Liberals, is the proposed changes to violent offender rules.

The bill states that people who have been convicted of violent or sexual crimes three or more times will have to prove why they should not be deemed a violent offender, as opposed to the Crown having to prove why they should be labelled as such.

People deemed violent offenders are subject to more severe prison terms.

'No reason why this bill can't go through quickly'

A date for the first vote on the new crime bill has not been set, but Nicholson said he wants to see the bill move through the House of Commons and the Senate as quickly as possible, considering that Parliament already debated many of the items contained in the bill last session.

"There's no reason why this bill can't go through quickly," he said. "I'm hoping people will pull together and get these things through."

The Conservatives, whose members represent 126 of 304 sitting MPs, need the support of at least one other party to have a majority in the House of Commons and pass a bill. They would then need support of Liberals in the Senate to get the bill made into law.

Opposition amendments contained in the previous crime bills will be included in the new bill, Nicholson said.

Prime Minister Harper said Wednesday that there would be no room for any new amendments to the crime bill. On Thursday, Nicholson said that while a committee will review the bill, as is regular practice, there shouldn't be any need for amendments.

"Again, there's no reason why this bill can't go through quickly," he said. "We've made it clear that we think the bills are [in the form now] as they were discussed on the Hill [last session]. They're in good shape the way they are."

One comprehensive package

The five bills from last session were lumped together in the hope that they might have a better chance at passing when presented as a comprehensive package, Nicholson said.

"We did our very best to get these things through [last session]," he said. "I'm trying it again. I hope this works. I expect it to work."

"I think this will put a spotlight on the whole issue."

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion heads into the crime bill debate after making a difficult decision on Wednesday to allow the Conservatives' throne speech, outlining the government's mandate for the new session of Parliament, to pass.

Dion said he will introduce amendments to the throne speech and if those are rejected, he will ask his party to abstain from voting on the speech, leaving the Conservatives with enough votes to pass the motion in support of the speech on their own.

The speech, like the crime bill, is a confidence matter. It contained items directly opposed to Liberal priorities, including a call to keep Canadians involved in Afghanistan until 2011 and a statement that Canada will not be able to meet the emission targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol.