Shelly Glover, MP for Saint Boniface, demanded Friday that the Manitoba government appeal the decision to allow Vince Li, who beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in 2008, to take unescorted trips.

The Criminal Code Review Board is allowing Li unsupervised leaves from the mental hospital where he has been receiving treatment since being found not criminally responsible for the killing of Tim McLean, 22.

It means Li will be on his own in public for the first time since he stabbed McLean and then ate parts of his body six years ago.

Glover, the government's heritage and official languages minister, said in a statement that the "insensitive" decision "is an insult not only to the family of Tim McLean but to all law-abiding Manitobans."

She said the province should have raised objections as the review board considered whether Li should be granted the extended liberties, and she is calling on the province to appeal its decision to approve them.

Province fires back at Glover

A spokesperson for the Manitoba government accused Glover of "trying to score political points with a very serious issue of public safety."

Rachel Morgan, who works in the cabinet communications office, said the review board that made the decision is under federal jurisdiction, "established under federal legislation and adheres to the federal Criminal Code."



The Manitoba government has asked the federal government a number of times to make public safety "the primary consideration when making decisions on these cases."

Morgan said if changes had been made it would have had an impact on the decision involving Li, but added those changes have yet to be enacted by the federal government.

Glover's full statement