By Arthur Weinreb
Monday, September 24, 2007
Crime, as it usually is, is an issue in the upcoming October 10 Ontario provincial election. Its importance doesn't compare to what seems to be the burning issue of the day -- the segregationist policy of the Tories to fund all faith-based schools instead of just the Catholic system that spawned, among others, current Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty. But the issue of violent crime, especially in large cities, gets the occasional mention on the campaign trail.
Although the Liberals and the Conservatives disagree on the exact numbers, a significant percentage of those who are charged with violent crimes are arrested while they are out on bail for previous offences or on probation, parole and/or are subject to a firearms prohibition. The response of the Liberals to all this is that it is the fault of the federal government for not bringing in a total ban on handguns and for failing to pass legislation requiring reverse onus bail hearings in certaim cases. Nevertheless, the province is responsible for the administration of justice; for the police, the crown attorneys and for the appointment of provincial court justices and justices of the peace.
It is perfectly understandable why Dalton McGuinty can't get too worked up over the number of people who are charged with committing serious crimes while out on bail for previous charges. After all, getting out of custody on bail is just a promise; the accused promises to abide by terms such as to keep the peace and be of good behaviour and return to court when required to do so. And we all know what Dalton McGuinty thinks about making promises.
McGuinty has broken so many promises that he made during the 2003 election campaign that only John Tory can keep track of them all and that is only because he has a large research staff. During that campaign, McGuinty promised that if elected, Ontarians would not pay one penny more in taxes than they were paying under the then-current PC government. Within a year he broke that promise and imposed a huge health tax that saw some Ontario residents ship 90,000 more of their pennies ever year to government coffers. Naturally the matter of McGuinty's broken promises lies became an issue in the current campaign. Like all accomplished liars do, the premier rationalized the fact that he reneged on his word. Instead of the province's books being balanced, once the Liberals came to power, they found out that there was really a $5.6 billion deficit. This justified McGuinty breaking that promise. It wouldn't be so bad if this was the only promise that McGuinty and his government broke. But there were lots of others like his promise to close the province's coal-fired plants by 2007. Like most people who are loose with the truth, Dalton has an answer or an excuse for everything.
Okay, so let's go back to the criminals. A gangbanger intentionally shoots and kills another person while being out on bail for two previous robbery charges. At the moment that the fatal shots were fired, the bail order wasn't worth the paper that it was written on, much like McGuinty's written pledge not to raise taxes. Of course when the gangbanger signed the bail order, he had no intention of breaching any of the terms and conditions, so grateful was he to be getting out of the Don Jail or some equally unpleasant institution. But, as our illustrious premier has realized, circumstances change. Our gangbanger didn't realize that at the time he agreed to the terms of his release, that the soon-to-be deceased was walking around dissing him. He couldn't have possibly known that at the time. He therefore had a good reason to breach his conditions and waste the victim, much like Dalton McGuinty had a good reason to break his tax promise. It wasn't his fault he couldn't keep his promise; it was the fault of the guy who dissed him who we'll call Ernie. It's always someone else's fault.
There is a very good reason why Dalton McGuinty can't get too upset about people who get released on bail and then commit further offences; he has looked into their eyes and they are him.
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement