With last week's Senate approval of Bill C-10, Canada is close to 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 recently recognized that incarcerating 2.3 million people does not reduce the crime rate. Consequently, state after state has rolled back mandatory minimum sentences, draconian penalties, harsh parole eligibility and so on. Canada, on the contrary, is implementing all of these, plus mean-minded pardon and international prisoner transfer provisions.

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 most crimes go unreported by their victims. When criticized for the cost of their simplistic and counterproductive legislation, they reply that crimes cost victims $99 billion per year.

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. drug czar (Asa Hutchinson) has encouraged Canada not to make the same mistakes the U.S. made. The two mistakes he cited were mandatory minimum sentences, and insufficient attention to rehabilitative programs.

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, and that Karla Homolka would soon be eligible to apply.

In its efforts to deal quickly with a perceived gap in the law, the Harper government has again passed legislation which will adversely affect thousands of offenders needlessly. From introduction to royal assent, the new procedure for obtaining pardons became law in 49 days.

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. As one example, Newfoundland should have been a hotbed of crime in the 1960s and 1970s if poverty were a cause, but its crime rate was not remarkable.

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 the new laws and mandatory minimum sentences.

The perverse results of some of the new legislation are already being documented. While the Harper government sells its new laws by saying they will punish violent, repeat offenders, it is clear that many non-violent, first-time offenders will bear the brunt of the legislation.

Dear American neighbours,

I suffer from a chronic condition that requires me to see a doctor several times a year to obtain prescriptions and the like.  I would not be able to afford this without our one-payer system of health care.  The result for me would be a life of chronic pain. 

Our system allows for full autonomy by health professionals, and provides us with quality care at no cost except for the taxes we all pay, and which we are happy to pay in order to obtain this service.  The system in Canada costs less per capita than that in the U.S., and everyone is covered.  Good for us!

Paula Mallea

Manitoulin Island, Ontario

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