NICHOLSON REVISES STANCE ON SENTENCES

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, one of Canada's most vocal champions
of fixed minimum prison sentences, once opposed the idea of removing
discretion for judges to sentence as they see fit.

As a Tory backbencher in 1988, Nicholson was vice-chairman of a
parliamentary committee that rejected the expansion of automatic
incarceration, asserting that it doesn't work, overcrowds jails and
takes too hefty of a social and financial toll.

Two decades later, mandatory minimum jail terms are central to the
government's law-and-order agenda.

Nicholson, as justice minister for three years, has aggressively
pushed for automatic incarceration for selling drugs, growing
marijuana, white-collar crime and offences involving guns.

He has also accused his opponents of being soft on crime for
challenging his get-tough approach.