Another Blow to Harper's Tough On Crime Agenda
While Statistics Canada has come under attack from the ruling conservative government in recent days when the government unilaterally decided to scrap the mandatory long form census, they continued to do their job and released the latest crime statistics for the country.
You may be familiar with the conservative tough on crime agenda announced way back when the party first came to power in a minority government in 2006. The various bills which make up the crime platform for the Tories was left essentially in limbo for years, only to be paraded about when the threat of an election loomed in the near future. Perhaps that is why Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has been working overtime trying to scare up votes for a ridiculously expensive expansion of the penal system when the statistics indicate a decades decline in overall crime, even violent crime.
Today the 2009 police reported crime statistics were released by Stats Canada which showed a drop in crime of 3% from 2008 and 17% from a decade ago. The violent crime index also dropped 4% from 2008 levels and 22% for the decade prior. In real numbers there were 2.2 million total crimes reported by the police in 2009, down 43,000 from the year before with the highest crime levels in Northern and Western Canada. Of the provinces with the highest rates of crime, Saskatchewan topped the list followed by, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Alberta, while the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest had the highest reported crime rate. Perhaps surprisingly depending on your point of view, Toronto's crime rate was third lowest behind Guelph, and Quebec City with a 4% drop.
What does all of this mean? It means that besides the 10% rise in youth violent crime, the $10 billion dollar expansion to be paid for by the provinces for non-violent drug offenders is not something we can afford to do and isn't something that Canadians actually need. With a $54 billion deficit and the fact that Americans are running away as fast as they can from their failed prison economy that Prime Minister Harper is intent on duplicating, the evidence is clear. This report is yet another strike against an agenda that is clearly one based on ideology and not because of good governance. Every time the conservatives try and throw their ultra conservative base some red meat to chew on, they take Canada one step backwards.
Read the entire report here.
You may be familiar with the conservative tough on crime agenda announced way back when the party first came to power in a minority government in 2006. The various bills which make up the crime platform for the Tories was left essentially in limbo for years, only to be paraded about when the threat of an election loomed in the near future. Perhaps that is why Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has been working overtime trying to scare up votes for a ridiculously expensive expansion of the penal system when the statistics indicate a decades decline in overall crime, even violent crime.
Today the 2009 police reported crime statistics were released by Stats Canada which showed a drop in crime of 3% from 2008 and 17% from a decade ago. The violent crime index also dropped 4% from 2008 levels and 22% for the decade prior. In real numbers there were 2.2 million total crimes reported by the police in 2009, down 43,000 from the year before with the highest crime levels in Northern and Western Canada. Of the provinces with the highest rates of crime, Saskatchewan topped the list followed by, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Alberta, while the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest had the highest reported crime rate. Perhaps surprisingly depending on your point of view, Toronto's crime rate was third lowest behind Guelph, and Quebec City with a 4% drop.
What does all of this mean? It means that besides the 10% rise in youth violent crime, the $10 billion dollar expansion to be paid for by the provinces for non-violent drug offenders is not something we can afford to do and isn't something that Canadians actually need. With a $54 billion deficit and the fact that Americans are running away as fast as they can from their failed prison economy that Prime Minister Harper is intent on duplicating, the evidence is clear. This report is yet another strike against an agenda that is clearly one based on ideology and not because of good governance. Every time the conservatives try and throw their ultra conservative base some red meat to chew on, they take Canada one step backwards.
Read the entire report here.
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