LAW AND DISORDER

More evidence has surfaced indicating that Justice Minister Gord
Mackintosh's penchant for writing laws but not checks is creating a
climate of law and disorder in Manitoba.

Free Press reporter Mike McIntyre examined the court docket in
Winnipeg yesterday and found that more than half of 365 people listed
were to appear on charges of breaching court orders. And not just
once, but more than three times each on average. There were minor
breaches -- if any breach can be called minor -- such as failing to
abstain from alcohol, and major breaches, such as committing new
crimes. It should be astonishing that so many people -- both adults
and young offenders -- would violate the conditions that allow them
to escape incarceration. Why would they risk losing their
get-out-jail-free cards? Well, because they can.

Manitoba's jails are filled to overflowing. Earlier this year,
facilities in Winnipeg and Headingley were holding 300 prisoners
beyond capacity. Were it not for conditional sentences, there would
have been more than 2,300 people in jails designed to hold 1,200. In
other words, scofflaws freed on court orders know that they can
ignore the orders with impunity because there are no cells to hold them.

They also know that they can breach conditions because police
resources are so stretched that often they can't respond quickly to
serious crimes, let alone drop by their place of house arrest to
determine whether they are even at home.

And then, because they breach conditions with impunity, at some point
someone -- a counsellor or probation officer -- files a report
listing the breach which requires the police who don't have time to
respond to 911 calls, spend more time finding scofflaws and bringing
them back to court so the whole thing can repeated again. Police call
it the "catch and release" program.

Mr. Mackintosh has been warned repeatedly that his penchant for
writing laws rather than checks is bringing the justice system into
disrepute. Chief Provincial Court Judge Ray Wyant, no less, has
warned that the level of disrespect of court orders "strikes at the
heart of our system." And yet there are no plans for writing checks
to build more jail cells, or to expand court resources -- the
province is short 14 Crown attorneys. Instead, we hear from Mr.
Mackintosh's office that he is keen on writing a law to suspend the
drivers licences of impaired boaters.