The Cons' copycat crime bill

Tories are copying U.S. crime laws that failed, expert says
2.3 million Americans behind bars
"The Harper government is embracing tough-on-crime policies even as the United States backs away from similar approaches that have produced record levels of incarceration, huge costs and racialized prisons, says an American expert on sentencing policy.
"We've had this get-tough movement for three decades now," says Marc Mauer, head of the Sentencing Project, which promotes reforms in sentencing law and alternatives to incarceration.
"If that's the best way to produce safety, we should be the safest country in the world, and clearly that's not the case.
Mauer's observations are relevant because the federal Tackling Violent Crime Act echoes the punitive approach to crime adopted in the U.S.
The Harper government pushed the bill through even though crime rates in Canada are falling and are now at their lowest level in 25 years."

You know, we used to know better.

Here's a page written by the head of Corrections Service of Canada, in Sept 2000 :
"HTTP Error 404 - Not Found
In an effort to serve you better, we have redesigned the Correctional Service of Canada website. As a result, many of our webpage addresses have changed and some links may be unavailable.
Date Modified: 2008-01-04"

Well, never mind, as it happens I have my own copy :
"American politicians have often found it in their self-interest to use fear of crime as a strategy to win elections, by promising to wage war on crime.It is ironic that in the United States, as in Canada, crime rates have been declining since 1991. However, by waging war on crime they have managed to double their prison population without making the United States a noticeably safer society than Canada. We would do much to advance the public interest if we can better manage the fear of crime than our American neighbours."

Currently one out of every 100 US citizens is behind bars.
Americans spend $44 BILLION a year on corrections -- six times more than they do on higher education.

We're the new # 6

Last year Canada was the sixth largest arms exporting country in the world, just behind the US, Russia, UK, Germany, and China, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service. It would have been nice to have our own figures on that of course, but as CBC has been reporting for a while now, two successive Ottawa governments have not released annual reports on military exports to Parliament since 2002. Best excuse? Computer technical glitches. For years.

From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade :

"The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible to Parliament for the operation of the Export and Import Permits Act. The Minister produces an annual report on exports of controlled military goods and presents it to Parliament and Canadians. No country reports in more detail on such exports."

Well yes, at least no country with a lower transparency ranking than us, according to Small Arms Watch who notes we just squeaked past Iran in their transparency ratings to place 11th out of 20 countries.

500 companies across Canada are making LAVs, missile components, grenade launchers, firearms, ammunition .....and we have no idea what exactly or where it's all going.

Ten years ago Canada was a leader in drafting the treaty banning anti-personnel mines, known as the Ottawa Treaty. The US-#1, Russia-#2, and China-#5 all refused to sign it.

Then, after 4 million cluster bombs were dropped on southern Lebanon, representatives of 47 governments met in Oslo to begin crafting an international ban on cluster bombs. Israel, with whom Canada is expected to sign a "security accord" shortly, and the US, with whom Canada already has, are not expected to sign on.

Canada is obviously going to need a little nudge here to withstand the influence of her partners. Here's one from of Ceasefire :

Dear Prime Minister Harper:
Canada led the way to ban landmines. Now it is time to ban cluster bombs. I urge the Canadian government to declare a moratorium on the use, production and transfer of cluster munitions until a new treaty has been negotiated.

I await your reply.
Thank you.

Your signature here.