The Federal omnibus crime bill combining nine separate bills into one item is past the first reading and has moved on to committee examination. The reasoning is that many of these bills were individually in the process of going through a reading in the House, or being looked at by committees, or being voted on, or doing all those things AGAIN in the other house — it's a lengthy process.

The point is all of those bills have to start from scratch, undoing hundreds of hours of work done by Members of Parliament. The red tape surrounding these proceedings is often confusing, wasteful and completely unsurprising to Canadians. However, as Prime Minister, it's Stephen Harper's responsibility to act in the best interest of Canadians and he promises to have the bill passed within 100 days of parliamentary meetings. This seems to be a promise the Tories are intent on following up on. The massive bill was only given two days to be debated in the House of Commons before it was sent to be reviewed by a committee.

The speed at which Harper is trying to pass this bill hasn't protected him from harsh criticism from virtually all fronts. The closest thing to support the bill has received has come in the form of requests that it be split into individual bills to better address the issues involved. The chief concerns regarding the bill are the increased strain on the judiciary system and the enormous cost expected to come with enforcing the new measures.

Another concern is the addition of harsher mandatory minimum sentences. The concept of a mandatory minimum sentence is that any time a crime fits a specific qualification, the accused must serve at least that minimum if found guilty. There are those, however, who disagree with these harsh measures and are refusing to recognize them — such as all of Quebec.

The Justice Minister of Quebec, Jean-Marc Fournier, is stepping up on behalf of the province and asking the government not to enforce the bill. He's doing so on the grounds that it places a huge inevitable cost on the province for enforcement and because the crime measures being proposed contradict many of the programs already in place in the province.

With the amount of opposition already in place against this bill, it will almost undoubtedly undergo serious transformations as various committees and reviews amend it, but there are serious causes for concern in this bill. The President of the Canadian Police Association supports the bill and he has a very 'give them what they deserve' attitude toward criminals. The entire concept of throwing crooks into prison and making the streets safe again is laughable in this day and age. By now we've been able to clearly see that education programs, safe injection sites, programs that assist those in need and more work far better than stricter deterrents. By making the punishment worse instead of the alternative (not breaking the law) better, the only result is criminals who are a lot more desperate not to get caught.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.