ndp

By: Mary Agnes Welch, Winnipeg Free Press

Manitoba’s NDP might support them, but federal leadership candidate Peggy Nash says she’d reconsider a batch of get-tough-on-crime bills now working its way through Parliament.

Nash, seen by many as a possible consensus candidate in the crowded race to lead the federal NDP, was in Winnipeg Tuesday drumming up votes.

Asked about her approach to Winnipeg’s crime problem, Nash said she favours prevention programs and reducing poverty and inequality as a root cause of crime. Read more »

By: Aaron Wherry, Macleans

Six of the eight NDP leadership candidates respond to a survey on drug policy. All six seem to support some kind of decriminalization around marijuana and three (Niki Ashton, Peggy Nash and Romeo Saganash) seem open to pursuing a regulatory approach. Here is how Mr. Saganash explains his position. Read more »

BY JEFF DAVIS, POSTMEDIA NEWS

OTTAWA — Canada's prison population is not growing as fast as expected in the wake of Tory tough-on-crime legislation, prompting Corrections Canada to abort plans to hire 4,000 new prison guards.

According to the most recent data, Canada's federal prison population stood at 14,893 at the end of 2011, significantly fewer than the 17,189 prisoners Corrections Canada predicted would be locked up by then.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he never believed predictions that the prison population would grow significantly when the government passed legislation that increased mandatory minimum sentences and repealed the two-for-one time served provisions.

Toews said he now feels vindicated. Read more »

By Greg Vandermeulen, The Red River Valley Echo

It’s time to reassess the war on drugs in Canada. That’s a statement that at least two thirds of Canadians support. Talk of decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana has come to the forefront once again, first because the Liberal party adopted it as a campaign plank, and now because all the NDP leadership candidates agree.

There’s no doubt the drug war has failed, but what Canadians must decide is to what level we’re willing to give up the fight.

Finding real information about drugs like marijuana isn’t always easy. Harper’s Conservatives would call it a gateway drug, and point to the massive business it is for gangs. Read more »

BC NDP

VANCOUVER– The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to allow Insite to remain open is great news and a tremendous victory for the advocates and the community who fought to keep the facility, say the New Democrats.

“The Supreme Court affirmed that Insite saves lives,” said New Democrat MLA Jenny Kwan (Vancouver – Mount Pleasant). “That should be the first priority of the federal government, not some ideological crusade to show that they are tough on crime. Ideology should not trump science at the expense of people's lives. Read more »

By Val Rossi - Trail Daily Times

While local police shed little light on a long crime bill being rolled out by the Conservative government, MP Alex Atamanenko has a number of reasons why the “tough-on-crime agenda” doesn’t work.

New criminal justice changes included in a 110-page omnibus bill tabled in the Commons affects nine pieces of existing legislation including drug laws, youth sentencing, anti-terrorism measures, the pardons system, detention of refugees, parole and house arrest.

“What they’ve done is put all these bills together, rather than going at them one by one so basically we have a choice here to vote for all or nothing and that’s wrong,” said Atamanenko. Read more »

By: David Anton Jacks, The Manitoban

Conservative pundits have rallied around recent Stats Canada numbers, claiming that they prove at last that the Manitoba government has failed in making Winnipeg “feel safer.” These allegations centre around what I feel is the mythological NDP “soft on crime” policies supposedly to blame for the perceived crime wave in the province, and that a Conservative “tough on crime” policy is what is needed to quell the surge.

While an article in the August 17, 2011 issue of the Manitoban, “A Common Sense Justice System,” by Spencer Fernando claims the NDP has allowed crime to flourish, I feel the author fails to recognize overall crime rates in Manitoba have actually decreased since the NDP took government. Also, the tough on crime approach simply sweeps the problem behind bars and onto the taxpayer — another $9 billion on new prison facilities — rather than through investments in preventative supports such as childcare, recreation centres, health, addictions and educational services, community policing, and poverty alleviation measures.

It seems the Conservatives are more concerned about the perception of crime than dealing with the root causes of crime and measures that will help to ensure at-risk individuals are provided support that would prevent the likelihood of committing criminal acts in the first place. Read more »

By Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News

The NDP will choose its new leader at a convention in Toronto on March 24, the party announced Friday after a meeting to determine the rules for the leadership race.

"The leadership rules will provide for a vigourous and dynamic debate of ideas," party treasurer Rebecca Blaikie said after the meeting at an Ottawa hotel.

The rules were determined by the NDP's federal council, which is made up of close to 100 party members. Those interested in going for the job left vacant by Jack Layton's death last month will take the rules into consideration when making their decision. Layton, a Toronto MP and former councillor in the city, died Aug. 22 of cancer.

Candidates can begin now to declare their intentions to run for the leadership, but registration for the contest begins Sept. 15. Read more »

DAVID NICKLE, Inside Toronto

Jack Layton came to Toronto Council with a mop of unkempt hair, a wardrobe well-stocked with blue jeans, and a pair of big, nerdy glasses. By the time he was finished, he had transformed himself and the city - bringing cycling into the mainstream, pushing public smoking to the fringe and the environment and anti-poverty issues to the forefront of public debate.

Over the 22 years of his involvement in city politics, Layton cut his hair close, trimmed his moustache, switched to contacts and suit pants. In the months before he passed away, he led the federal New Democratic Party on an historic journey that ended with the fourth party becoming the official Opposition for the first time - and arguably brought Quebec voters back to a federalist party. Read more »

I joined the NDP largely because of Jack Layton. He was an inspiring leader and I admired his integrity and passion for a better Canada.

When he became leader in 2003 one of his first acts was to come on Pot-TV and do an interview with my friend Marc Emery. In this interview, like always, Jack spoke from the heart and took a political stand based on principle over expedience.

In the eight years since then I was honoured to meet and speak with Jack Layton on a few different occasions. Despite the problems around my federal candidacy in the 2008 election, Jack always treated me with camaraderie and respect.

I believe that Jack Layton was a political leader who changed our country for the better. It is a great loss for Canada that he died before becoming Prime Minister. I hope that his vision, integrity and common sense approach will continue to inspire people across our nation, and that his legacy will live on in the years to come.

-Dana Larsen