TORY CRIME TACTICS WRONG: ELLIS

The Hon. Helena Guergis recently sent a flier to my door saying the
Conservatives were going to get tough on crime.

She would have Canada make the same mistake as the United States,
which now has one person of every 100 in jail.

The Economist supports this astonishing number; as 2 1/2 million
Americans are now in jail, or to be exact, 2,319,000 people. This
makes the American system of justice the worst one in the world.

An examination of the American system shows that most of the
prisoners are not violent, or part of the Mafia, but low level drug
pushers and sick drug users. The three strikes and you are out plan
has filled up the prisons and kept the sick drug users away from any
chance of rehabilitation, and all they will learn in prison is to be
better criminals.

Large numbers of young drug users in prison are being horribly abused.

The direct cost of the American penal system is $49 billion a year,
and if the Conservatives follow the American example it will probably
cost Canadians $5 billion a year.

We need a change of government.

The Green Party wants to keep more people out of prison, not put more
people in jail.

After all, crime in Canada is decreasing, not increasing, as the
Conservatives would have us believe.

Why would Guergis want to put more people in jail when every sensible
route is to reduce our inmate population?

Drug users need help, and they certainly will not find it in an
overcrowded prison.

Following the Green Party route of common sense is the only way to go.

Author: Peter Ellis,
Green Party candidate, Simcoe-Grey riding