CUTTING EDGE INJUSTICE

JUSTICE Minister Gord Mackintosh thinks that it is a good idea to
punish people for crimes that they have not yet committed but which
they someday, perhaps and possibly, might commit.

That is an idea that should scare the socks off every Manitoban,
law-abiding or otherwise.

He proposes to give himself the authority to evict homeowners or
renters who have in their possession the ingredients and the
equipment to make crystal meth. Crystal meth is notoriously easy to
make. You can buy the ingredients at your friendly neighbourhood
pharmacy, the equipment you need at any family hardware store.

That leaves pretty well everyone eligible for eviction.

Mr. Mackintosh wants neighbours to inform on neighbours whom they
suspect might have such material.

They can inform on each other anonymously. Under the Safer
Communities and Neighborhoods Act that Mr. Mackintosh imposed on the
province in 2002, provincial authorities -- not the police, but
bureaucrats -- can investigate, even use video surveillance of homes
or apartments. Then the occupants can be evicted if provincial
authorities can convince a judge to issue an order.

No conviction of any crime is required for this -- simply Mr.
Mackintosh's suspicion that the commission of a crime is possible
will be enough.

The only shred of protection that Mr. Mackintosh would leave innocent
Manitobans falsely accused by nosy neighbours is the discretion of a judge.

The Safer Communities and Neighborhoods Act was a bad idea when Mr.
Mackintosh introduced it to crack down on booze-cans, brothels and
crack houses. It gives the province the right to impose punishments
without going through the problematic process of criminal conviction.
When he introduced it, Mr. Mackintosh hailed it as being the first of
its kind in Canada. That is not a distinction of which Manitobans
should be proud.

The justice minister, however, likes to think of himself and his
government as being on cutting edge of the war on crime.

He is, in fact, on the cutting edge of injustice.

He would deny bail to people accused of violent crimes even though
they have not been found guilty of any offence, have no previous
convictions and pose no obvious flight risk. He has given police the
right to stop and search drivers, to make them perform physical and
mental exercises without any reasonable cause except a policeman's
suspicion that they might be impaired. He won't let bikers wear their
colours in bar-rooms and he doesn't like fast cars -- as an editorial
in this newspaper said two years ago: "The right to refuse or to
remain silent, to dress as one wishes or to merely associate with
people of one's choice is fast becoming a quaint ideal in Manitoba."
It's getting worse.

Mr. Mackintosh appears to regard the law as a weapon, a kind of
bludgeon to be used against things he does not like. Manitoba,
however, needs a justice minister who understands the law as a
defence not only against crime and criminals but more importantly
against government and authority, a defence of individual rights.

This province does not have such a justice minister in Gord Mackintosh.