If 25% is not enough would 50% do it for the "but crime is going down" crowd?

1 in 4 Canadians over the age of 15 have been victims of crime in the previous 12 months, says a recent StatsCan survey. ( Today's snarky comment: What the hell! How can this info even be available or valid since we didn't have a census in 2009!)

Mr. Ignatieff:  25% of your fellow citizens and neighbors have been the victims of crime in the last year and you criticize the building of much need prisons and mock the CPC tough on crime agenda.

Ardvark's free advice: I would suggest that you start paying attention Mr. Ignatieff or in the future you may be wishing that you could poll as well as Dalton McGuinty's latest.

Surprised Liberal: You mean if I plead guilty there might be consequences?

A little adscam news for your weekend reading pleasure.

Benoît Corbeil, a former top federal Liberal Party official, sentenced Dec. 4 for influence peddling and fraud, then released about two weeks later, pending his appeal, claims he'll lose his job at the Université du Québec à Montréal if he's locked up. His lawyer, Michel Grenier, maintains the jail sentence and order to pay $117,315 to the Liberal Party of Canada was excessive. Grenier said that in pleading guilty to the charge, Corbeil expected an absolute discharge.

I guess that being a Liberal bagman today does not carry the same weight that it once did.


Enjoy your long weekend everyone.

How did this guy get pardoned?

The National Parole Board has some explaining to do.

Graham James, the junior coach convicted of sexually abusing his players in a case that rocked the hockey world from house leagues to the NHL, has been pardoned by the National Parole Board, The Canadian Press has learned.

WTF, this guy was found guilty and is still being investigated for other possible instances of abuse and he gets pardoned? I hope they are seriously going to look into this.

This from the PMO

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, while noting the independence of the parole board, expressed shock that the government is learning of the pardon only three years after the fact. “The Prime Minister has asked for explanation on how the National Parole Board can pardon someone who committed such horrific crimes that remain shocking to all Canadians,” Dimitri Soudas said.

The ruling, he said, was made “without our government's consent or knowledge.”

“The actions of this convicted sex offender shocked the conscience of a nation – one where the bond of trust between coaches and players in our national game is sacred,” Mr. Soudas said.

Mr. Harper, he added, has asked Public Safety Minister Vic Toews “to propose reforms that will ensure that the National Parole Board always and unequivocally puts the public's safety first.

I am not sure what the government can really do considering the arms length relationship, and if they do try to do something the Liberals will scream about interference and hidden agenda etc, but they have to try.

Related: considering the outrage the Liberals showed over the Jaffer sentence, maybe they will do the right thing and not try and turn this into another political game.

Yea right.

Free Speech for me, but you are reprehensible if you take my picture on this public street.

Video of today's protest in Vancouver from CTV. (or go to http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/index.html and find the video called "violence in the streets")

*The above links may not work with Firefox, I had to open them with IE* try this link if you are having troubles.



Tough guy 'protesters' change their clothes behind a dumpster to avoid the police. Nice clear pictures of these guys CTV, I am sure the Vancouver Police will appreciate the help.


Update: You can see some screenshots of these guys at Canadian Sense. Drop by and if you know who they are let CS know.

More from the ADSCAM file

From the Globe and Mail: "Mr. Corbeil said the money derived from the $50,000 kickback was redistributed to Mr. Morselli, as well as two Liberal riding associations outside of Montreal Island, prior to the 1997 general election.

He added that the money from the six fake invoices, which he had approved, was used by Mr. Morselli to organize two Liberal events in 1999 and 2000. The goal was to pack halls with supporters of then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, whose loyalists were involved in internal fights with the supporters of then-finance minister Paul Martin.

Mr. Corbeil said the Liberal Party's Quebec wing was always short of money, and he said the fake invoices were used to obtain cash to pay for Liberal “volunteers” at party events and to organize matters like transportation." h/t Wilson

Money for 2 Liberal riding associations? Hey Michael, if you wouldn't mind stepping away from your crusade to smear the conservatives over stimulus spending for a minute, could you tell us which 2 ridings those were? There are more but these 2 would be fine for starters.

Money to BUY support for Chretien to show up his internal rival Finance Minister Paul Martin. If this wasn't so sad it would be funny.

Related: from yesterdays news. Protecting Adscam sources.

Auf Weidersehen Karlheinz Schreiber

I wanted to make sure it actually happened before writing anything and it does look like it has indeed happened.

Karlheinz Schreiber is now in German custody and bound for his homeland.

Auf Weidersehen Karl Heinz, thanks for the memories. Make sure to send Paul Szabo a postcard when you land and let him know that important information you promised to give us before you left.


Update: The government still can be efficient when they want to be.

From the Globe:
"Karlheinz Schreiber was whisked onto an overnight flight by RCMP officers Sunday night after an Ontario Superior Court Judge dismissed his last-gasp court challenge to delay his extradition to Germany.

At about 7:45 p.m., about three hours after the 75-year-old lobbyist turned himself in at a Toronto area jail, he called his wife from a cellphone belonging to one of the Mounties.

“He couldn't speak long. He only said to me he is on the plane and I should be not worried,” his wife, Barbel Schreiber, said....."

Boom. Done and out within hours! Kudos for a job well done.

Now if we could only get the rest of that beast known as the government to be this efficient we would really have something to be happy about.

Director of the Liberals' Quebec wing from 1999 to 2000 pleads guilty to fraud.

Benoit Corbeil, director of the Liberals' Quebec wing from 1999 to 2000 has plead guilty to fraud and influence peddling charges. Corbeil, who was also implicated in the sponsorship scandal was accused of using false invoices to bilk more than $100,000 from the federal government and the LPC.

It is a sad day when you trust someone to help bilk money from the sponsorship slush fund for your party and they end up taking money from your own party instead. What is this world coming to.


FYI: Info from the Gomery commission on Corbeil.

• Denied receiving between $75,000 and $100,000 from Michel Béliveau in 1997.
• 
  
• Maintains he only received two cash payments from Béliveau in 1997, one for $5,000 for MP Denis Coderre's Bourassa riding, and $4,000 for Yvon Charbonneau's eastern riding of Anjou-Rivière-des-Prairies.
• Confirmed he got $50,000 from Brault through Commando Communications Marketing and $50,000 cash to pay eight Liberal workers during 2000 election.
• Corbeil's allegations spur a series of denials from campaign workers, including Daniel Dezainde who testified he never received $3,000 cash.
• Claims Gagliano knew about underground fundraising scheme.
• Denies pocketing any money for his personal use.

Update: Ignatieff is not going to be happy about this.

However, Corbeil says he will reveal who profited from the scam, suggesting more names will come out in connection with the scandal.

NDP MP Dawn Black: Another ban for your safety.

New Westminster-Coquitlam NDP MP Dawn Black introduced a private members bill Thursday proposing additional penalties for people who commit crimes while wearing body armour. The legislation also calls for those who have been convicted of violent crimes to be prohibited from owning body armour. Source.


I think she may be on to something here; after all, the gangs have had such a respect for our existing gun laws that another law will be sure to do make our streets safer.

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Or in this case should that be ladies or perhaps even Constable?

Det.-Const. Heidi Fischer is charged with driving 50 km/h or more over the posted speed limit, contrary to Section 172 of the Highway Traffic Act. Because she was charged with exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km/h, her driver's licence was suspended for seven days and her police vehicle was impounded for a week.

Story here and here.

Thank you Edmonton Police Service

Last week a member of my family was the victim of a violent crime. I am not alone.

If this situation has not yet happened to yourself or to someone you know, you are winning the battle of statistics for at least the time being; count yourself lucky but remember that this is happening everyday to some of your fellow Canadians. Leaving the discussion of the political aspect of crime and justice for another date I would take the time to thank the sharp end of the spear in the battle against crime; the police.

Thank you to the members of the Edmonton Police Services who were at the scene and saved the life of someone very close to me. I cannot possibly express in words my thanks for your actions that night. You have a job that many of us could not do and the abuse and disrespect you get from the citizenry that you protect makes the job all that more difficult. You all make a difference, thank you.

Maybe she should call the cops.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May, in Guelph for the local by-election, has accused the Liberals of "stealing".

'May cited the Liberal party's Green Shift as the foremost example of another party "stealing" a Green party idea and making it their own.'

Oh my, the Liberals "stealing". Who would have thought such a thing even possible?

I think May should do the right thing and report the matter to the police, and while she is at it, she could also report the theft of the Liberal candidate for the EDA of Central Nova. I am sure the local Liberals in Central Nova are very concerned that someone stole their chance to select and vote for a candidate of their own.

Speaking about things that should be against the law; it seems that the Liberal Party of Canada is still soliciting money in their efforts to "win back" Central Nova even though they have no intentions of running a candidate and cannot possibly "win back" the riding.

PM Harper Bring him home now.

Enough is enough; it is time that the government of Canada did the right thing and repatriated a Canadian citizen currently being oppressed in a foreign jail. We have all seen his videos and we know the truth.

I don't care if he allegedly committed his crime in the US and that some of you feel that he should be tried and held to those barbaric US laws. As a Canadian he deserves the protection of the Charter. The corrupt legal system of the US is well known and I doubt, with all the expected publicity that is sure to follow, that he will be able to receive a fair trial under such a system. He is Canadian who has rights, and we as a society have a moral obligation to do the right thing no matter who they are.

Mr. Harper please put a stop to this travesty of justice and do the right thing.

Bring Steven Page home now!



.
Update: (Developing) According to my sources Paula Todd and Dan McTeague have both been seen heading towards the home of Steven Page's mother with camera crews in tow.

Be nice to your murder victims...

or be held accountable by the great Canadian justice system.

By: Dean Bennett, THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON - Thomas Svekla treated his murder victim like so much stuff - trussing her up nude, bending her like a pretzel and cramming her in a hockey bag - and for that he must pay, his sentencing judge said Monday.

Justice Sterling Sanderman ordered that while Svekla is automatically sentenced to life in jail for the second-degree murder of Theresa Innes, he can't ask for parole for at least 17 years.

"We don't treat the dead with the utter contempt and utter disregard that you exhibited to Miss Innes," Sanderman told Svekla, who sat intent but impassive in the prisoner's dock.

Got that you wannabe killers? Murder away; just be kind to the corpse when you are finished.

Another example of why the YCJA needs overhauled.

On March 29th 55-year-old Antonio Lanzellotti was killed when the taxi he was driving was struck by a stolen vehicle.

A girl ,who was arrested and charged in the incident, repeatedly told police during a taped interview that she “didn't care” Lanzellotti had died and said he “was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The girl laughed and giggled and said Lanzellotti “had to die sometime.”

Sounds like the perfect little princess doesn't she?

It’s the second time in as many weeks the girl has wound up in the Manitoba Youth Centre just days after being released. She got out of MYC on Thursday after she ignored a probation order, while wearing the bracelet, June 9 by hanging out with her best friend, a fellow car thief she was ordered to stay away from.

The probation order was handed down four days earlier when the girl was sentenced for her role in the fatal crash and then released.

The girl’s latest breach is at least her third in connection with this case.

A day after she got bail in April, she was arrested for breaching her curfew and disappearing for a day.

Source

And by the way; in case you were not aware, the girl cannot be identified under the rules of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Thanks again Liberal Party of Canada.

The great seal hunt scam

Listen carefully to the words of Sea Sheppard head Paul Watson in this 1978 interview on the CBC by Barbara Frum.





Contrast those words to this recent news. I guess the lure of all that money to be made from those cute little seals was just too great to pass up for Paul Watson after all.

A big tip of the hat to Hunter at Climbing out of the Dark

The Supreme Court backs mandatory sentences

The SCOC has issued a landmark ruling defending Parliament's right to create mandatory minimum criminal sentences, and to have those measures enforced by reluctant judges.

It couldn't have come at a better time as the unanimous decision, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, comes only a day after the Harper government's new crime law -- which includes higher mandatory prison terms for certain gun crimes -- received royal assent from the Governor-General.

What were these guys thinking

Two masked and machete-wielding men who barged into a club in Sydney, Australia, couldn't have picked a worse night for their robbery -- a monthly meeting of bikers.

Read more here.

Private Members Bill C-423

Here is another reason why I continue to support my Member of Parliament, Mike Lake. His private members Bill C-423, an Act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

In a nut shell Bill C-423 will use a carrot by adding a ‘referral to substance abuse treatment’ to the current list of extrajudicial measures available to police officers when dealing with young persons, particularly first-time offenders accused of committing non-violent offenses, and a stick because if a young person referred to a treatment program does not complete it, the police officer may initiate judicial proceedings.

In my opinion Mikes bill is well balanced change to the current act that will not only give the police more options when dealing with young offenders who may have substance abuse issues, but will give the young offender an opportunity to help themselves.

So far the Bill has received support from members from all sides of the House, and currently is awaiting its turn before the Justice Commitee.

You can read some of the debate on Bill C-423 here.

Advice for Warren Kinsella

Warren, some friendly advice from a fellow blogger: If you happen to get an email from a Nigerian Prince asking for your help to pay some fees so he can access his multi million dollar fortune, a large portion of which he is willing to share with you; hit the delete key, because it is a scam.

After what happened earlier this week, I thought you could use the tip.

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Abducted child is found safe, and now....

Good news as the baby that was abducted yesterday has been found and has been reunited with her parents. Nineteen-year-old Brenda Batisse, who allegedly took the baby girl, has been arrested and is facing abduction charges.

So using my psychic abilities I will predict how the story will unfold over the next little while.

First their will be relief that the child has been found and returned safely.

A discussion will ensue about how to tighten up hospital security so this kind of thing never happens again.

Next will come the discussions about the crime itself and what kind of punishment should be dealt out. During these discussions, the soft on crime left will ignore the crime itself and the premeditation involved. We will hear how the alleged abductor had a hard life and that it really is not her fault, but rather that of society that caused the alleged abductor to behave this way, and as a result this woman should not be sent to prison. The left will bring up the sex of the alleged abductor, and how society treats women in general, as a 'straw man' in their zeal to do what they think is the correct thing.

These arguments will be effectively shot down when it is pointed out that all these feelings of sympathy for the alleged female abductor would not be the same had the abductor been a man.

Update: While I was not totally correct with my predictions the courts come through in the appeal as her sentence gets cut in half.