canada
The Vancouver Province
Mental illness problems common among homeless
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE, The Chronicle HeraldBundled up against a cold wind blowing under a grey, bare-tree sky, panhandler Gina clutched her cup of coins.
The troublesome path that led her to ask strangers for money on Spring Garden Road in Halifax was travelled with regret but resolve.
Gina said drug addiction is what led her downtown recently to beg for spare change.
Treatment for the affliction was helpful, before it was avoided. "I was on methadone for 7 ½ years," Gina, 48, said matter-of-factly. "I went off of it, which was the stupidest thing to do, and I got caught back up into it."
Vic Toews blames media for Rahim Jaffer 'smear job'
Jane Taber, Globe and MailStephen Harper’s senior Manitoba minister has launched a public attack on a journalist from his province over her reporting of the Rahim Jaffer affair, calling it a “smear job.”
In an angry letter, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews accuses Winnipeg Free Press reporter Mia Rabson, the only Manitoba reporter covering Parliament Hill, of advancing the “Liberal spin.”
Mr. Toews writes that Ms. Rabson “regularly engages” in “conspiracy theory” stories “because they don’t involve a lot of thought or work.”
Former Harper aide says Jaffer should apologize
Tonda MacCharles, The StarOTTAWA – Most of Rahim Jaffer’s Conservative caucus colleagues dashed, squirmed, or told reporters to ask Ontario’s Crown why their former national caucus chair got a “break” – as the judge called it—from prosecution on drunk driving and cocaine possession charges.
But Kory Teneycke, a former spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Jaffer is the one who owes the public an explanation and an apology.
Key Senate post up for grabs, but Tories take a pass
By Jennifer Ditchburn, CPOTTAWA — The Conservatives have passed up a chance to seize control of a key Senate committee that they regularly attack for stalling or watering down government bills.
Now that the Tories hold more seats in the upper chamber than the Liberals, they can reconfigure committees to reflect their new power.
But instead of taking the chair of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, which has been examining hot-button crime bills, they left that job to Liberal Senator Joan Fraser.
Jaffer case draws fire from John Howard Society
The head of the John Howard Society says Justice Minister Rob Nicholson should take a long, honest look at the Rahim Jaffer case.
Craig Jones says Nicholson should apply lessons from the case to the Conservative criminal justice agenda.
Jones says the Jaffer case shows how mandatory minimum sentences don't work, because they take away discretion from judges to find proportionality in the justice system.
Jaffer is a former senior Conservative MP in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He walked out of an Ontario courtroom yesterday after drunk driving and cocaine possession charges were dropped against him. In return, Jaffer pleaded guilty to a careless driving charge.
Harper Government Borrowing, Increasing Taxes, to Build Prisons - Crime at 30 year low
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service
OTTAWA — The head of Canada's prison system says there will be "major construction initiatives" in the coming years to cope with federal legislation to imprison more offenders longer — an assertion backed by new spending estimates showing a 43 per cent increase in penitentiary capital costs next year.
Don Head, commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, set the stage for prison expansion in a recent e-mail, obtained by Canwest News Service.
Tories bristle when asked to explain Rahim Jaffer's 'slap on the wrist'
By. Jane Taber, Globe and Mail
Stephen Harper’s tough-on-crime Conservatives were accused of being not-so-tough when it comes to one of their own today during a particularly nasty Question Period today.
Winnipeg Liberal MP Anita Neville raised the issue of the $500 fine given to former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer after he pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving earlier today. Her questions – and accusations – touched off a firestorm in the Commons.
Harper tough on crime? Not at all
By John Hutton, Winnipeg SunDespite having spent most of last year arguing that his “tough on crime” agenda was urgently needed, Stephen Harper killed off most of it when he prorogued Parliament.
This means the legislation will have to be re-introduced and debated all over again over the next few months.
It is also a second chance for Canadians to see that his initiatives aren’t going to accomplish much, but they are going to cost taxpayers a lot of money.
Harper’s agenda involves increasing the amount of time people have to serve in jail or prison (at taxpayer expense) by imposing more minimum sentences, and making it harder for inmates to get parole.
Ontario School Board Fails in Attempt to Expell Student for At Home Marijuana Use
Posted By KENNEDY GORDON, Peterburough Examiner
Jean Grant says her son was a test case for a new school rule -- and her battle with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board was a test case for parents who refuse to back down.
"I want other parents to know what school boards can do, what principals and vice-principals have the power to do," Grant said Monday.
In what Grant calls the first case of its kind, the Superior Court of Justice rejected an appeal filed by the board, which wanted to keep her son out of high school and was fighting a Child and Family Services Review Board decision to keep him in class.
