The inconsistency of this stubborn Harper government has reached really absurd proportions. Yesterday Stockwell Day, having denounced the census for not providing up-to-date information, held a ludicrous press conference in very much the style we have come to expect of him.
He said, using a 2004 study as proof, that unreported crime rates were rising at an alarming rate, and this justified the government’s decision to spend billions of dollars on new (unneeded) prisons.
In other words, he said that the statistics which show that crime rates, especially the rates of violent crimes, are dropping, and have been dropping for many years, are not as reliable as a remark made in one study that unreported crimes have shown a slight increase.
This was alarming, according to Day. But what kind of minister would damn official statistics, collected by the traditional methods, as being out-of-date, and compare them unfavorably against an equally out-of-date report that “unreported crime” is rising? By its very nature, “unreported crime” must be an unknown statistic. This doesn’t seem to have occurred to our President of the Treasury Board --- just savor that for a moment! --- Stockwell Day is President of the Treasury Board, in charge of the nation’s finances! ---- who insists that this is a serious situation justifying tougher sentencing and more prisons. Has this guy never heard that crime is relatively immune to tougher sentencing, and longer prison sentences? All that was missing in this ridiculous performance was his wet suit, of cherished memory.
Words fail me, actually. Okay, I have to be as good as my word….I have run out of words in face of this Conservative lunacy….
The Conservatives recently indicated they want to increase the number of prisons - and so too the prison population - despite statistical evidence that would suggest the contrary is needed.But who needs statistics?
ReplyDeleteSerious census information according to Mr. Day's Party is a matter of choice..so one can only speculate that those who do not answer the long census forms will constitute for him, an even larger silent majority.From all this, he and his sidekicks will have even more unreported truths to toss about. In fact, “unreported crime” is rising.Stockwell Day is absolutely right.
Countless thousands must now be dreaming of his demise. To be sure, not a single one of these individuals has been reported, let alone brought to justice. Nor should they be. Hopefully, Canadian voters will be rid of them.