SENATORS AND ANTI-PROHIBITIONISTS TAKE MINISTER TO TASK

Re: Senate delay on drug bill risks lives: Justice minister, July 23:

I am writing in response to Kim Bolan's article about the so-called
Senate hold-up of Bill C-15, which would impose mandatory jail terms
for drug producers and traffickers.

The Conservative government has a field day every time a bill it
introduces arrives in the Senate. Instead of letting the Senate do its
constitutionally mandated job of studying legislation to ensure its
worthiness and effectiveness, we are constantly forced to defend our
work to the public.

Maybe the "hold-up" in the Senate reflects hesitation on the part of
Canada's chamber of sober second thought to pass a bill based in
ideology, rather than fact. Or maybe it comes from a desire to think
carefully about the consequences of changing our laws based on
partisan thinking.

If Bill C-15 were to become law in its current form, the financial
burden of the majority of the prison sentences (less than two years)
contained in it would fall on provincial governments, not the federal
government. Provincial courts are already dealing with backlogs; this
bill would only worsen the strain on the system.

If it is really designed to target "gangs and organized crime
activity," why does it include six-month sentences for individuals
growing as few as six plants? The courts would be backed up with an
influx of people caught growing a few plants in their backyards.

We in the Senate have an obligation to study all legislation
thoroughly. Come the fall, when Parliament resumes, we will do just
that with Bill C-15.

Senator Larry Campbell

Galiano Island