Mr. Speaker, in 1995 the government introduced conditional sentencing and despite warnings from the Reform Party it refused to limit the “serve your sentence at home” policy to first-time, non-violent offenders.
Despite the inconsistent and lenient treatment of the provision by the courts, the government still refuses to restrict this legislation. Like most problems with our justice system, the government prefers to force the courts to resolve issues without direction from parliament.
This week a 42 year old individual pleaded guilty to conspiracy in trafficking cocaine. Mr. Justice Norman Douglas called cocaine an insidious drug which ruins people's lives and results in more spinoff crime. But did he remove the individual from the community to protect the citizens? No, he imposed an eight month sentence at home. The individual must obey a 9 p.m. curfew, unless working, and report to police every Saturday morning. That sort of punishment does nothing to discourage individuals from trafficking in serious drugs. I even wonder if that individual can avoid the curfew by arguing that the selling of cocaine is a form of work.
Canadians have waited for over four years for the government to address its screw-up on conditional sentencing, but unfortunately the government fails to admit its mistakes.