MANDATORY MINIMUMS MUST BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

Tuesday night's Throne Speech in Ottawa paid a lot of lip service to
crime prevention, but without the necessary measures in place, the
Conservative government's stance on crime has no real teeth to take a
bite out of crime.

During the speech the Conservative agenda included furthering their
efforts with a Safer Communities strategy to deal with the critical
intersection of drug, youth and property crime, as well as
strengthening the Youth Criminal Justice Act to ensure that young
offenders who commit serious crimes are held accountable to victims
and their communities.

Property crime is also a new priority for the Conservatives who say
they will introduce new laws to help address the problem, including
dealing with auto theft.

New measures to address elder abuse and to curb identity theft will
also be introduced and the Conservatives had vowed to implement the
National Anti-Drug Strategy giving law enforcement agencies powers to
take on those who produce and push drugs on our streets.

At first glance the Conservative's approach is not without its merits.
After all, there is no question auto theft, crimes against seniors,
and drugs are a problem, and need to be addressed.

The unfortunate reality though is that by and large, criminals and
would-be criminals just don't get it - why would they? The
slap-on-the-wrist mentality of judges is hardly a deterrent for criminals.

When offenders can continue to break laws and remain free there is a
problem, and the solution does not lay with more officers on streets,
or more money for education or prevention - our law enforcement
officers are already doing an excellent job of protecting communities,
investigating crimes, and charging the guilty. The solution rests with
judges who need to start making examples of offenders, or the
Conservative government, who needs to implement mandatory minimums if
judges don't have the fortitude to do what needs to be done.

Twenty years ago the first public service announcement against drugs
showed a man who held up an egg and said, "This is your brain," before
picking up a frying pan and adding, "This is drugs." He then cracks
open the egg, frys the contents, and says, "This is your brain on
drugs." Finally he looks up at the camera and asks, "Any questions?"

Today, drugs continue to be a problem and education campaigns aren't
working. It is time mandatory minimums are introduced to impress upon
criminals that if you do the crime, you will - no questions asked - do
the time.