
By. Neil Boyd, Vancouver Sun
In 1910, Winston Churchill stated that one of the "unfailing tests" of a civilization lies in how it treats crime and criminals. In 1967, Pierre Trudeau told Canadians that the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.
Pronouncements from our current politicians are rather different in tone. Conservative Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has opposed same-sex unions, argued in favour of reducing the age of criminal responsibility to 10, and suggested that if sexual orientation was to become a protected category under Canada's hate crime legislation, "homosexual activists" might sue hotel chains to remove Bibles as a form of hate literature.
As part of a "getting tough on crime" agenda, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson wants to impose a minimum term of six months in prison on anyone who grows more than six marijuana plants, and to lengthen terms of imprisonment in a wide range of other contexts (even though rates of serious violent crime are much lower today than they were 30 years ago).
More simply put, the federal government wants to put more people in jail. The approach that they advocate has no empirical support -- no examples from other jurisdictions to establish that crime rates will be affected in any beneficial manner. And yet the opposition, until very recently, has avoided criticism of this legislative package, explaining that they fear being tarred as "soft on crime." The unfortunate reality is that many in opposition, like the Conservatives, are allowing fear to drive their agenda. Worse than that, they appear to believe that Canadians can't be convinced of the unproductive and costly heart of the Conservative agenda. Worst of all, our culture and our country are being shortchanged by a barrage of name-calling and finger-pointing.
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