AUTOMATIC JAIL TERMS FOR DRUG PUSHERS A GRATIFYING MOVE

To no one's great surprise, the defence lawyers, the "progressive"
professors and all the other usual, liberal suspects are on their high
horse over the federal Tories' new crime bill, which takes a hard line
against drug traffickers.

They claim that the mandatory prison sentences proposed in it will do
everything from raise the price of drugs to increase the prison
population -- as if that were the most terrible thing that could
happen to Canadian society.

But what these critics fail to appreciate is the depth of the anger
many ordinary Canadians feel toward the current, revolving-door
justice system in which growers, pushers and other lowlifes get off
virtually scot-free.

Statistics show, for example, that nearly 60 per cent of those
convicted of growing marijuana in B.C. receive only house arrest or
probation. So no wonder they treat sentencing simply as a cost -- a
minor cost -- of doing business.

That is why we agree with Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, B.C.
Attorney-General Wally Oppal and others who believe that a strong
message has to be sent to career criminals who push drugs on our
children or destroy peace-loving neighbourhoods.

The status quo simply is not good enough. Indeed, it makes a mockery
of the law, which must show strength or remain a laughing stock.

Certainly, there has to be some emphasis on "rehabilitation" when it
comes to sentencing people for drug-trafficking and other serious
crimes. And that is evident in this bill in a provision that would
allow judges to exempt certain offenders from automatic prison terms
on condition they complete court-ordered drug treatment.

For too long, however, our judges have viewed rehabilitation of
offenders as more important than crime deterrence -- and the right of
law-abiding citizens to go about their lives without fear in an
orderly society Certainly, the new legislation will remove some of the
discretion judges now have in sentencing individual offenders. But for
too long that flexibility appears to have been abused by an overly
liberal bench, high on reforming zeal.

And for too long the anguished cries of crime victims appear to have
gone unanswered by insiders in our so-called justice system.

Some will no doubt accuse the election-hungry Tories of pandering to
populist sentiment.

But under this bill, those who engage in drug trafficking or violent
crime -- or both, and it's usually both -- can expect a much rougher
ride from our courts.

If they don't like it, they should get a real job.