Buggins
Active Member
As a Canadian, this both sickens and terrifies me....
Pedophiles to serve less than growers
by The Canadian Press
Sep 27, 2011 / 5:36 pm
The Conservative government is using its majority muscle to push through Parliament a massive crime bill that provides harsher penalties for pot growers than pedophiles.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the legislation, made up of nine bills that were introduced in previous years, "is an investment to better protect Canadians in their homes and make them feel safer in their communities."
But just how large an investment, and how it will impact crime levels, remain open questions.
Joe Comartin, the NDP justice critic, said the bill is an uncosted hodge-podge of measures that include the good, the bad and the ugly.
"If you're a mid-level trafficker in drugs, including marijuana, you can get up to 14 years. If you're the same person but you sexually assault, rape, a baby, you can only get up to 10 years," said Comartin.
New mandatory minimum sentences are also harsher for drug crimes, in some instances, than for sexually assaulting a child.
"That's right in this bill," said Comartin.
Tough new laws on Internet luring of children and grooming children for sexual purposes are supported across all party lines, said the NDP critic, and could have been passed before last spring's election if the Conservative-dominated Senate had acted more swiftly.
No one appears to have a firm grip on how much the new crime measures will cost. Prison expansion, new corrections officers, additional court resources and the six-figure price tag for incarcerating a prisoner for each full year all add to the bottom line.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page said Tuesday there are big expenditures that are starting to happen, but he has not seen a price tag for the overall plan, something he says Parliament and Canadians need to know.
Page estimated that, based on the pieces of information he's cobbled together, the cost of the government's tough-on-crime agenda is upwards of $3 billion.
"What we would like to be able to do is track the spending quarter by quarter, relative to the overall plan, but we don't have that overall plan in terms of what that aggregate cost will be," he said.
Conservative MP Larry Miller made a pitch based on the legislation's gut appeal, stronger penalties for child sexual exploitation.
"I'll tell you, Mr. Speaker, as a grandfather of a six- and three-year-old granddaughter, this means a lot to somebody like me," said the rural Ontario MP.
"The stronger the laws we can make to protect our children and the vulnerable, it shouldn't even be a question as to support for this bill."
Comartin later noted that he, too, has grandchildren.
"The difference here is we could have that law in place so Larry Miller and myself and other people who are really concerned about our kids could see that (exploitation) law in place in the next few weeks, as opposed to four or six months, which is what it'll take if we keep it combined," said the New Democrat.
by The Canadian Press
Sep 27, 2011 / 5:36 pm
The Conservative government is using its majority muscle to push through Parliament a massive crime bill that provides harsher penalties for pot growers than pedophiles.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the legislation, made up of nine bills that were introduced in previous years, "is an investment to better protect Canadians in their homes and make them feel safer in their communities."
But just how large an investment, and how it will impact crime levels, remain open questions.
Joe Comartin, the NDP justice critic, said the bill is an uncosted hodge-podge of measures that include the good, the bad and the ugly.
"If you're a mid-level trafficker in drugs, including marijuana, you can get up to 14 years. If you're the same person but you sexually assault, rape, a baby, you can only get up to 10 years," said Comartin.
New mandatory minimum sentences are also harsher for drug crimes, in some instances, than for sexually assaulting a child.
"That's right in this bill," said Comartin.
Tough new laws on Internet luring of children and grooming children for sexual purposes are supported across all party lines, said the NDP critic, and could have been passed before last spring's election if the Conservative-dominated Senate had acted more swiftly.
No one appears to have a firm grip on how much the new crime measures will cost. Prison expansion, new corrections officers, additional court resources and the six-figure price tag for incarcerating a prisoner for each full year all add to the bottom line.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page said Tuesday there are big expenditures that are starting to happen, but he has not seen a price tag for the overall plan, something he says Parliament and Canadians need to know.
Page estimated that, based on the pieces of information he's cobbled together, the cost of the government's tough-on-crime agenda is upwards of $3 billion.
"What we would like to be able to do is track the spending quarter by quarter, relative to the overall plan, but we don't have that overall plan in terms of what that aggregate cost will be," he said.
Conservative MP Larry Miller made a pitch based on the legislation's gut appeal, stronger penalties for child sexual exploitation.
"I'll tell you, Mr. Speaker, as a grandfather of a six- and three-year-old granddaughter, this means a lot to somebody like me," said the rural Ontario MP.
"The stronger the laws we can make to protect our children and the vulnerable, it shouldn't even be a question as to support for this bill."
Comartin later noted that he, too, has grandchildren.
"The difference here is we could have that law in place so Larry Miller and myself and other people who are really concerned about our kids could see that (exploitation) law in place in the next few weeks, as opposed to four or six months, which is what it'll take if we keep it combined," said the New Democrat.
