McColeman Supports Patronage Senate Appointments

Voilà Senator Mike Duffy. After promising to create an elected senate, Stephen Harper appointed the Conservative-leaning journalist Duffy to the Senate in 2008. Kind of a nice way ($132,300/year) of saying "Thank you" for years of promoting the Conservatives on TV. Here's our own Phil McColeman with the well-fed Senator Duffy:

Phil to Host Roundtable

Phil is hosting a roundtable on February 4, 2011. This should be a good thing. BUT true to the spirit of this government, Phil is only inviting the rich people in Brantford to attend. They will sit around at the fancy-schmancy Hampton/Hilton Hotel and talk about how great they are. Why doesn't Phil listen to the people who have lost their jobs because of Conservative economic policies?

Phil's Partisan Puerile Penal Preposterousness

Here's what Phil McColeman said in Parliament on January 31st, 2011:

Unfortunately, I am afraid that it already seems to be business as usual for some Liberals. Today the member for Ajax-Pickering* is again sticking up for criminals and promoting the failed prison farm system, a program with a dismal rate of success of less than 1%, and which loses millions of tax dollars each year. I call on the Liberal Party public safety critic and his coalition partners to work with us to get results for law-abiding Canadians and victims and to stop putting criminals' rights before those of victims.

[*The member for Ajax-Pickering is Mark Holland, the Conservatives' whipping-boy for soft-on-crime]

Phil is dead wrong for two reasons.

First, prison farms DO work. Here is a direct quote from a recent Report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, of which Phil is a member:

A literature review conducted by CSC [Correctional Service of Canada] concludes that animal therapy programs not only help participants by improving their behaviour and learning about discipline, as well as their sense of cooperation and respect for others; they also help the staff of correctional institutions since the presence of animals makes the atmosphere more relaxed and encourages communication among inmates. Finally, society as a whole would benefit from these programs since the participating inmates would learn skills that would serve them well in the labour market and would reduce the rate of recidivism.

Animal therapy programs have proven effective and all participating inmates believe that these programs have undeniable benefits at the human level. For this reason, the Committee has difficulty understanding why CSC decided to terminate the farm prison program at penitentiaries by March 31, 2011. Like many of our witnesses, the Committee is convinced that CSC is on the wrong path in this regard and maintains that CSC should actually increase the number of programs based on animal therapy. [footnotes omitted]

The second reason that Phil is dead wrong is because it is actually the CONSERVATIVES who are soft on crime, specifically, they are SOFT ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. From a recent Toronto Sun article:

Tories 'soft’ on child sex crimes: group

The so-called tough-on-crime Tories are "weak" on child sex abuse crimes, according to an anti-child pornography advocacy group.

Brian Rushfeldt, president of Canada Family Action, said Tuesday he's "disappointed" with Bill C-54, the government's efforts to protect children from sexual predators, because it doesn’t go far enough.…

While Bill C-54 does beef up minimum sentences for people convicted of possessing child porn — from 14 days to 90 days for a summary conviction and up to six months for indictable offences — Rushfeldt said the bill does not lengthen sentences for people convicted of making child pornography.

Wow. The "tough-on-crime" Phil McColeman sends pedophiles to prison for a mere 90 days, and does nothing to the monsters who create child pornography. Instead he complains about prison farms, which help keep our society safe. Why doesn't Phil stop playing partisan games and start focusing on the real issues!