When Stephen Harper announced the election on August 2, he suggested only the Conservative party has the experience and knowledge to keep Canada safe and prosperous. A closer look at his government’s tough-on-crime agenda suggests otherwise. In fact, it’s one area we can safely say the government is making Canadians…
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On June 27, a column by Tom Brodbeck in the Winnipeg Sun called out the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and myself for allegedly “[trying] to scare Canadians.” He said we were wrong when we predicted higher numbers of prison inmates and higher costs as a…
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Canada is one Senate vote away from becoming the most regressive Western democracy on criminal justice. That unenviable position has most recently been occupied by the United States. But even though some of the most conservative Republicans are now arguing against over-incarceration, Canada continues to pursue that objective. Americans have…
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The omnibus crime bill passed the House of Commons handily, thanks to the Conservative majority and the invocation of closure and time limits throughout the process. It is now over to the Upper House to hear evidence and make a decision about Bill C-10. For the second time in living…
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Harper, Nicholson and Toews are selling their snake-oil crime bill by presuming to speak on behalf of victims. When told that the crime rate has been declining for 20 years, they reply that one victim is one too many. When advised that statistics do not support their approach, they say…
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Prime Minister Harper will be launching his tough-on-crime agenda today. Our criminal justice system is by no means perfect, but the omnibus crime bill will send us back to a 19th century punishment model. Here are some reasons why Canadians need to speak out against this legislation. The former U.S….
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The Conservative government, with the collaboration of opposition parties, hastily passed a piece of legislation (Bill C-23A) last year which makes it more difficult for offenders to obtain a pardon for their offences. This was the government’s response to the news that notorious child-molester Graham James had received a pardon,…
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Kudos to Iglika Ivanova for her effort to quantify the costs of poverty in British Columbia. Included in her analysis is a consideration of the relationship between crime and poverty. She correctly points out that poverty is not a cause of crime, but is rather a risk factor for crime….
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This fall the Harper government will pass an omnibus crime bill that will imprison thousands more Canadians and cost billions of dollars. It will not do as advertised by the Conservatives and drive the crime rate down. It will simply incarcerate for longer the many citizens who fall afoul of…
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About 40% of the Harper government’s recent legislative agenda was devoted to crime laws. Most of these would have created new offences and mandated longer sentences. The Conservative government said this was the way to get violent, repeat offenders off the streets and to fight “guns, gangs and drugs.” On…
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