OUR COUNTRY DOESN'T NEED MORE TOUGH CRIME LEGISLATION

There are liars, damn liars and statisticians who never tire of
pointing out anomalies such as Abbotsford-Mission being Canada's
murder capital.

It recorded more homicides per capita than any other metropolitan area
in 2009 -- oh, my!

Nine. There were nine murders in Abbotsford-Mission.

Still, with only 160,000 residents, that works out to a lot "per
capita."

If I lived out there, I don't think I'd be rushing to sell my
house.

The volume of 2009 police-reported data released Tuesday by Statistics
Canada revealed yet again we are a nation managing to combat evil
without the federal Conservatives' ultraexpensive tough-on-crime program.

We should all take heart that the trend of the last decade has
produced a greater than 20-per-cent drop in criminal offences. That's
amazing.

For the sixth year in a row, from sea unto sea unto sea, the number of
crimes fell dramatically -- 43,000 fewer than in 2008, which saw a
decrease of 77,000 from 2007.

And we're talking about significant reductions in the kind of crimes
that affect everybody and leave all of us feeling violated and
vulnerable -- 17,000 fewer motor vehicle thefts, 10,000 fewer mischief
offences and 5,000 fewer break-ins.

Still, some of the quirky statistical facts that surface among the
data, such as the killing fields of Abbotsford, remain
counterintuitive.

Much-celebrated centres of Prairie neighbourliness -- Regina,
Saskatoon and Winnipeg -- look like violent outposts, Toronto a
peaceable place.

Hogtown's seemingly as safe as pastoral Guelph or Disneylike Quebec
City.

Hardly. When you focus on mathematical ratios, you can often get a
distorted picture because of the small numbers involved in the
violent-crime categories.

The numbers, nevertheless, shed a lot of light on the effectiveness of
existing public safety policies and dispel the darkness of Tory
fearmongering to support more prisons and tougher mandatory jail sentences.

Even kids have not escaped Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's
anachronistic wrath: Spare the rod and you know what happens seems to
be his rationale for stiffening juvenile penalties.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, too, is touting the end of
two-for-one credit for time served in pre-trial custody as a great
achievement.

The cost of that popular but controversial change is estimated to be
at least $2 billion over five years, up from the original estimate of
only $90 million over two years.

The price of the entire Conservative plan is simply sky-high --
perhaps $10 billion or more in increased policing, prosecution and
corrections expenses.

"It does cost money to incarcerate people and I believe that Canadians
have been willing to pay those costs up to this point and they'll
continue to do so," Nicholson responds.

"What's the cost to victims when violent individuals are out on the
street that shouldn't be?"

The government insists the Opposition is "soft on crime" and has
delayed the Conservatives' most controversial measures. There are good
reasons for such delays.

This package of solutions to a faux problem is a recipe for
uncontrollable spending that will make the gun registry spree look
prudent.

That's why -- with the feds trying to stir up emotions to support a
tougher approach to crime and punishment -- the StatsCan report was
refreshing, hopeful news.

If nothing else, it exposes the scofflaw-and-disorder
legerdemain.

As the figures indicate, over the last decade, this country has become
a safer, more civilized place.

We don't need to spend billions building more prisons to accommodate
mandatory jail terms and 19th-century sentences. Our laws are working
just fine.

It also explains why the Tories might want to eliminate the long-form
census -- it's dreadful when political discussions get clouded by facts.