Pubdate: Thu, 24 Dec 2009
Source: Valley Leader, The (CN MB)
Copyright: 2009 The Valley Leader
Contact: http://www.carmanvalleyleader.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
Website: http://www.carmanvalleyleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2170
Page: 15
Author: Rob Swystun, QMI Agency

TORY MPS UNHAPPY WITH SENATE CHANGES TO ANTI-CRIME BILL

Portage-Lisgar Member of Parliament Candice Hoeppner slammed the 
Liberal-dominated Senate for making amendments to a Conservative 
anti-crime bill.

Hoeppner said the amendments, made by the Senate's Legal and 
Constitutional Affairs Committee, have weakened the bill and 
undermined the intent of it.

"Our focus and our goal was to crack down on drug traffickers," 
Hoeppner said of Bill C-15 just prior to her annual Tea with the MP 
event in Portage la Prairie Dec. 18.

Under the legislation, persons found guilty of trafficking who also 
had previous drug convictions would have received a minimum one-year 
prison term.

New amendments

With the new amendments of the Senate, mandatory terms would apply 
only if the offenders had spent a year or more behind bars for their 
previous conviction.

Hoeppner said the Conservative government aimed to target people who 
sold drugs to children and the amendments - including taking away 
mandatory jail time for anyone growing up to 200 marijuana plants - 
would further weaken that aspect of it.

"As a mother, it bothers me," she said, accusing the Liberals of 
being soft on crime.

Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board and Member of Parliament 
for Provencher, lent his voice to the condemnation of the amendments.

"It's been before the Senate since last June! And now the Liberal 
Senators have passed amendments, creating major loopholes and further 
delaying this urgently-needed legislation," Toews said in a press release.

The legislation proposes mandatory prison sentences if the offence of 
trafficking is carried out for organized crime purposes; or a weapon 
or violence is involved; the drug is sold to youth; or the 
trafficking offence takes place near a school or an area normally 
frequented by youth.

A minimum sentence would also apply if the production of the illegal 
drug constitutes a potential security, health or safety hazard to 
children or a residential community.

In addition, under this legislation the maximum penalties for drug 
production would increase from seven to 14 years. The mandatory 
sentences contained in Bill C-15 do not apply to simple possession offences.

Liberal Senator Joan Fraser, chair of the Senate Legal and 
Constitutional Affairs Committee, said the committee wanted to bring 
some balance into the bill and in no way intended to weaken it.

"The purpose of the bill is to go after criminals and organized 
crime," Fraser said, noting it was a well-intentioned bill.

She said with such stringent measures, such as jail time for someone 
growing as little as five plants, it risked punishing people who may 
be growing plants for personal use and didn't deserve the punishment.

"It risked scooping up more people right down at the bottom who were 
not targeted," she said.

The Senate committee heard from 62 witnesses about the bill, both for 
it and opposing it, before the 12-member committee voted in favour of 
the amendments. Among those witnesses were experts in the field of 
crime, members of the Canadian Bar Association and witnesses from the 
United States, which is moving away from mandatory sentences, she said.

Of the 12 committee members, four are Conservative, one is an 
independent and seven are Liberal, including Fraser. From the Senate, 
the bill will now go back to the House of Commons where MPs will vote 
on whether to accept the amendments or not.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart