Look! Over There! A Shiny Thing!!!"

My Comment addressing: MinisterialSpinWatch: Justice Delayed? Don't blame the Senate. "Justice" Minister Rob Nicholson, spin master extraordinaire, once again trumpets the old "Tough on Crime!" roar the Conservatives love oh-so-much! We all know the Senate didn't *stall or "gut the bill" . (Read here and here about the amendments made to Bill C-15, this is not gutting, this is trying to fix what is already supremely flawed!) And we also know that the biggest roadblock to Conservative crime bills has been TWO Tory prorogations and one election. Nice try Rob, but we ain't fooled. Your attempt at distraction = FAIL. And if you have to depend on a stacked Conservative Senate to pass your crime bills, well, that certainly is a dangerous agenda for all Canadians.

Comment by MaryJCannabian

Bill C-15 is a terrible piece of garbage that never should have made it to the point it did in the first place. Because it's a "crime" bill, the Liberals do not want to fight it because the Tories will accuse them of being "soft on crime". It's all quite ridiculous really, because it is not being soft on crime, fighting the bill is being "Smart about Crime". Unfortunately, The "Tough on Crime" Conservative Mantra resonates with the sheeple that would compare someone who grows two cannabis plants with a child abductor.

I've read Bill C-15, and watched the Senate Committee hearings and read the transcripts when I missed a meeting or two. For any sane and at least half educated person who heard all of the testimony you'd shake your head in disbelief that the Tories even had the audacity to draft such idiotic, draconian, failure inducing legislation.

I wonder how Canadian parents are going to feel when Under Bill C-15 their 18 year olds are sentenced to TWO YEARS in jail for passing a joint (Trafficking) to a 17 year old friend. Bill C-15 takes away all discretion from judges and your precious little Johnny will be in the slammer for a Mandatory Minimum Sentence thanks to Stephen Harper and his punish happy "Justice" while at the same time Steve can sing about gettin' HIGH with his friends at an arts gala, the same thing Johnny did.

From: Calling the Tories Out on Bill C-15 - "The Politics of Fear"

"the Conservatives are intent to supply more "criminals" to fill all the new prisons they plan to build, and the only "evidence", which they failed to produce after repeated requests, is Canadians (all of us?) supposedly asked for Bill C-15. That's it."

FYI, right on the StatsCan Website you will find that crime in Canada has declined over the last 2 decades after its highest level in 1991. I feel that whenever the Tories have the heat on them they love to preach they're "Tough on Crime!" it's like Rudy Giuliani's "9-Eleven!".... The Tories are creating fear among the political apathetic - "Vote for us or you'll be a victim!"... "We're the only party who cares about crime!" .... Yeah, like other parties & people aren't concerned about crime... whatever Steve.

Look! Over there! A shiny thing!


"Incarcerex" - Harper and Nicholson love a good distraction. I'm sure Richard Colvin would agree.

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Bill C-15 is not dead - it's on life-support during the Harper prorogue. The Conservatives will be trying to revive this beastly legislation when parliament resumes, do your part to Kill Bill C-15 and put it out of its misery for good. Write your MP's and Canadian Senators to politely ask them to not pass Bill C-15. WhyProhibition.ca has a handy dandy e-mail form pre-addressed to all the Senators in each province for your convenience. Pass It to the Left.

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*STALL (from above)
The week of June 25th. senators voted to delay their decision regarding Bill C-15 by a 38-33 vote. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ranted, accusing Liberal senators of blocking the Conservatives agenda. The following is an excerpt from a June 22nd. feature article from Cannabis Culture magazine:

Conservative Justice Minister Rob Nicholson lashed out at the Senate today, accusing them of blocking the Conservatives so called “law and order' agenda.

Nicholson specifically targeted the Senate for failing to act fast enough on C-15, the Conservatives' bill that includes mandatory minimum prison terms for drug offenses and has been almost universally criticized by criminal justice experts. The bill, which took more than 14 weeks to pass the House of Commons, has been in the Senate for less than two weeks and has already passed First Reading.

Despite the passing of the bill by Liberals in the house, Senate Liberals seem to be standing up to the Conservative bullying.

“They want to appear to be tough on crime,” Senate Opposition Leader James Cowan said. “If they were really serious about this, they would have introduced these bills at the beginning of the session and processed them through the House and gotten them to us before the end of the session.”

Cowan said other bills have taken several months to pass the House, but Nicholson is demanding they pass the Senate in only two or three days.

“We’re not going to be pushed into doing that,” Cowan said, suggesting the Conservatives are trying to distract attention away from the economy and the isotope shortage.

Critics of the bill say evidence overwhelming shows mandatory minimums simply don't work, can be extremely expensive to enforce, and cause more harm than good.

“Rob Nicholson has ignored the preponderance of scientific evidence and international experience, and now he is ignoring the Constitution”, said Kirk Tousaw, Executive Director of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation. “C-15 has profound implications for our criminal justice system and provincial budgets, the Senate has a constitutional obligation to study the implications of this bill, especially considering that the Conservatives did not.”

“For Rob Nicholson to attempt to push through a bill he could not produce a single piece of evidence to support is absurd”, (Marc) Emery said, “The Conservative Party may take it's cues from the Republicans, but thankfully, the Senate does not”. ~ Read the whole article here.

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Of the 16 experts called to testify on C-15, 13 called for the outright dismissal of the bill. When prompted, the Conservatives declined to provide evidence for the bill, and instead accused the opposition of being soft on crime.

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Update 2/2/2010: Well, well now, what's this we hear about Mr. Nicholson?

"Geneviève Breton, Mr. Nicholson's (Niagara Falls, Ont.) director of communications, said in an email to The Hill Times that the justice system and the drug world are different than they were 22 years ago, and therefore the government's response has also changed."

Hmmm.... but what about this? Just sayin'....

UPDATE #2, May 2010: Bill C-15 has been reintroduced as Bill S-10 by the HarperCONS, please read up on the new incarnation of this disastrous bill.

I also encourage you to read and bookmark this awesome blog, "Tracking the Politics of 'Crime' and Punishment in Canada - Commentary that aims to make sense of recent developments in the politics of 'crime' and punishment in the Canadian context", it really is top notch when it comes to the Tories and their favourite law n' order distractions.

A phenomenal informational post is "Crime' and Punishment Bills Represent 32% of Government Legislation Tabled This Parliamentary Session". It reads in part:

"The current minority Government of Canada has an ideological addiction to incarceration. Despite the known harms - economic, political and social - they turn to punishment in their time of need. The Conservative legislative agenda does not serve Canadians, it serves themselves."

And again, don't forget to stay updated at whyprohibition.ca and cannabisfacts.ca