The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Feb. 29, edition that Justice Minister Arif Virani has defended a new power in the on-line harms bill to impose house arrest on someone who is feared to commit a hate crime in the future -- even if they have not yet done so already. The Globe's Marie Woolf writes that the person could be made to wear an electronic tag, if the attorney-general requests it, or ordered by a judge to remain at home, the bill says. Mr. Virani, who is Attorney General as well as Justice Minister, said it is important that any peace bond be "calibrated carefully," saying it would have to meet a high threshold to apply. If "there's a genuine fear of an escalation, then an individual or group could come forward and seek a peace bond against them and to prevent them from doing certain things." Bill C-63 is designed to curb the proliferation of hate on-line, but it also establishes a new hate-crime offence, which would carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Mr. Virani said the hate-crime offence would only be applied if coupled with another crime and the life sentence would only apply in the most serious of cases -- not, for example, for mischief to a garage door.