Pubdate: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: James Mennie, The Gazette, Kevin Dougherty of The Gazette Quebec bureau contributed to this report. QUEBEC TEMPERS CRIME BILL'S EFFECTS Parti Quebecois Calls New Federal Law a 'Defeat for Quebec,' And Pushes Harper Government to Pick Up Province's Extra Costs One day after the Conservative government adopted Bill C-10, its controversial get tough-on-crime legislation, Quebec Justice Minister Jean-marc Fournier announced on Tuesday a series of measures aimed at softening the effects of the federal law on Quebec's youth justice system. And Fournier, who last November argued passionately against C-10 before a Commons justice and human rights committee, mused over just how permanent the more contentious elements of omnibus bill would be. "It is not because a law is adopted that it will be there for a century," he said. "When we share our expertise, our experience ... others will follow and change will come to C-10. "It's not for a politician sitting in an assembly to establish the sanction for a crime. That was the kind of justice many centuries (ago). We've got a system where we have judges, we have prosecutors, we have lawyers. They know the facts. Not all cases are the same and they've got to have the tools to adapt justice to the case." The tools Fournier will provide for Quebec's justice system include: * Publishing the name of a juvenile charged with a serious offence only in "exceptional" circumstances. * Using an order in council to allow prosecutors to inform the court of their decision not to seek adult sentencing for young offenders aged 16 years and older. C-10 allows the procedure to be applied to young offenders 14 and older. * Creating a drug-rehabilitation program that would give courts an alternative to a minimum sentence in the case of non-violent crimes. Fournier repeatedly reminded reporters that while the federal government could adopt laws, the administration of justice was a provincial jurisdiction, and Quebec possessed 40 years of experience in dealing with youth crime based on the ideal that rehabilitation is preferable to imprisonment. "In Bill C-10, the concept of rehabilitation has been retained but its importance has been diminished," he said. "The legal power we have (as a province) is to add nuance to the manner C-10 is written ... to conserve the idea of long-term protection for the public and to conserve the concept of rehabilitation." Fournier reiterated his support for certain sections of C-10, such as pre-trial detention for young offenders charged with serious crimes. But he also repeated his concerns that enforcing the legislation will cost Quebec an additional $80 million annually, while the construction of new prisons to house the anticipated influx of extra prisoners created by the law would cost more than $700 million. In Quebec City, Parti Quebecois MNA Bernard Drainville said C-10 is one of a series of measures by the Conservative government that make "a very, very strong case for Quebec's independence." "It's a defeat for Quebec, it's a defeat for our values," Drainville told reporters. If Quebec was a country, the l aw would not apply, Drainville said. "Who will pay?" Drainville asked, pointing out that Fournier has said Quebec would not pay for the Harper government's election promises, and called on Ottawa to pony up the cash. Quebec isn't the only province to complain about Bill C-10's price tag. Ontario Premier Dalton Mcguinty has also said if the federal government wants to get tough on crime, the federal government should pay for it. The crime bill's cost to Ontario has been estimated at $1 billion. And criticisms of the bill's provisions - explicit and implicit - also have come from Canada's legal establishment. Hours after Fournier's announcement, the Quebec Bar Association described the adoption of C-10 as "a step backward for Canadian criminal law." "Canadian justice is i n mourning today," said Claude Provencher, the Bar Association's director-general. "The very philosophy of our Canadian penal system has been amended ... before carrying out so major a change, a public debate in due form should have been held." Last month, an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled that a mandatory minimum three-year sentence imposed on a man arrested while posing with a loaded firearm in front of a laptop webcam constituted cruel and unusual punishment. In that case, the mandatory minimum sentence was contained in earlier firearms legislation tabled by the Conservatives. But mandatory minimum sentences for other offences are also included in Bill C-10. Civil liberties and lawyers groups have also complained that the Conservative crackdown on crime is occurring at a time when crime rates are plummeting and that the bill favours incarceration over rehabilitation. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.