 All Green Party Candidates
Bill C-26 is a bill tabled by the Conservative government that received its first reading in February of 2008. It proposes mandatory minimum sentences for the production and trafficking of various controlled substances, including cannabis, methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin. These minimums begin at six months for production of 1-200 cannabis plants and extend up to three years for offenses involving heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. The bill has now received two readings and was before the justice committee prior to the election call. Bearing in mind that individual MPs' votes may differ from the party line depending on the issue, what is your party's stance on Bill C-26?
- Opposed. We believe that the measures proposed in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s omnibus crime bill are bound to be ineffective and wasteful of taxpayers’ money. This American-style Bill would bring in criminal law policies that have created an incarceration pandemic in the US and enormous costs for funding their criminal justice system. There is also a lack of evidence that crime rates can be kept low by increasing incarceration. New York City, for example, has seen one of the largest drops in the crime rate while substantially reducing its inmate population.
Increased incarceration rates simply do not lead to reduced levels of crime. It is time Mr. Harper recognizes that the same ‘tough on crime’ strategies that are failing in the US are bound to fail in Canada.
- Mr. Giesbrecht added that Mr. Harper’s omnibus crime bill seems to have been crafted in direct opposition to this report and other evidence-based research, as the bill would increase mandatory minimum sentences for several offences and is designed to increase the incarceration rates in Canada. Mandatory minimum sentences will apply to some drug crimes and the maximum sentence for the production of cannabis will be 14 years.
- “It is unfortunate that no other opposition party is willing to challenge the Conservatives by pointing out these obvious flaws in their irresponsible criminal law policies,” said Mr. Giesbrecht. “Canadians are looking for effective and responsible strategies for tackling crime and the Green Party is prepared to offer a different strategy – one that will bring about real results and ensure the safety and security of our families.”
Is your party in favour of the continued operation of Insite, Vancouver's safe injection facility?
- Yes. This policy is in line with our view that drug addictions must be treated more as a health issue than a criminal one. We must expand and fund these sites to ensure that a support system is in place for drug users in Canadian cities. These facilities are highly supervised and also go along way to making our streets safer places to be. Most importantly, it is clear that safe injection sites help prevent the spread of disease and save lives.
In your opinion, the possession of marijuana for recreational use should (choose one):
a) remain illegal b) be decriminalized c) be legalized
- Be legalized. In 2005, according to the Treasury Board, Canada spent $368 million targeting elicit drugs, with 73% of that money going to law enforcement. Most of that was for the “war” against cannabis (marijuana). Marijuana prohibition is also prohibitively costly in other ways including criminalizing youth and fostering organized crime. Prohibition, which has gone on for decades, has utterly failed and has not lead to reduced drug use in Canada.
- After analyzing the recommendation of the Canadian Senate’s 2002 Special Committee on Drugs and the examples of strategies used by some European countries, the Green Party of Canada has come to the conclusion that it is time to legalize the adult use of marijuana. What steps should the government take to help those for whom illegal drug use has become a problem?
- We must address drug addiction as a health problem instead of a crime and focusing efforts on harm reduction, treatment and prevention. It is therefore necessary to provide much greater funding to the provinces earmarked to increase the number of detox facilities and treatment beds for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, establish more safe injection clinics, needle exchange programs, to provide certified addicts with prescriptions procured drugs in small safe doses, and develop educational prevention programs.
- We would launch a public consultation on the decriminalization of illicit drugs, considering the high costs currently used on the law enforcement effort, as well as for treatment facilities, rehabilitation of addicts, and consider shifting to prevention through educational programmes instead.
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