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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 79

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 1, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 79 - Jun/1/22
Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)
  • Jun/1/22 5:30:25 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-5 
Madam Speaker, I know there is a lot of shared ground here in the House of Commons on wanting to make communities safer. That is a goal we all share, but we share a difference of opinion on how best to do that. I am always disappointed when I hear the Conservatives implying that somehow mandatory minimums create safer communities, when all the research and all the evidence show that this is simply not true. I guess I am hoping the member could acknowledge that we have a difference of opinion about how best to protect communities. It is not that some of us care about communities more than others.
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Context: House Hansard - 79 - Jun/1/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
Mr. Speaker, I am thankful to my colleagues in the NDP for not standing up in this round. I want to make this clear again. I was in this place when, under Stephen Harper, the omnibus crime bill, Bill C-10, was passed. At that time, we already knew that there was no evidence that mandatory minimums would reduce the crime rate. We were watching in the United States as they were being removed in Texas. We saw at the time that these would probably be struck down as unconstitutional, as they are being struck down. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is being found to be violated by a number of these laws. What they do, at their essence, is not deter criminals. They do not make communities safer. There is no evidence that they make communities safer. I would ask my hon. friend for Calgary Rocky Ridge if he is able to produce at this time, or cite for us, any study by reputable criminologists or any group that works with criminal defence, or anything from the Elizabeth Fry Society or the John Howard Society that would suggest that mandatory minimums make communities safer, because there is no evidence for that proposition.
204 words
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