Mr. Hug-a-Thug is back this time as Mr. Huff-and-Puff!

Good Day Readers:

We first became aware of Mr. Hug-a-Thug's (also known as, Steven Fletcher, Conservative Charleswood-St. James- Assiniboia, Winnipeg) penchant for one liners from an article (below) posted on the excellent Blog Truth To Power (www.accesstoinfo.blogspot.com) hosted anonymously by a Canadian lawyer.

Now that he has cleaned up our streets of the criminal element looks like as Minister of State for Democratic Reform he's going to blow down the Canadian Senate. What a metamorphosis from Mr. Hug-a-Thug to Mr. Huff-and-Puff!

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
Fletcher.S@parl.gc.ca
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Canadian Federal Member of Parliament/Democratic Reform Minster Steven Fletcher and the Harper Conservatives (www.accesstoinfo.blogspot.com)

I’ll Huff And I’ll Puff And I’ll Blow This Senate Down
by Jeff Jedras
As originally posted on: A BCer in Toronto
December 21, 2008

From the hot air department: If the Conservative government can't get its planned reforms to the Canadian Senate passed as soon as possible it will simply move to abolish the Chamber altogether, says Steven Fletcher, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform.

Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and call BS on that one.

I’ve argued before that the Conservative commitment to Senate reform has been truly half-assed at best, nibbling away around the edges in a way that will actually only create a worse situation: an elected Senate, unafraid of using its power, but with the regional inequities entrenched. The only real way to reform the Senate is through constitutional reform with the provinces. That’s a process the Conservatives have shown absolutely no appetite for.

Now, Stephen Fletcher is threatening to abolish the Senate if his nibbling, possibly unconstitutional “reforms” aren’t passed? Please. Does he think he can just abolish the Senate by fiat? Actually, given the understanding the Conservatives have demonstrated for our democratic process, maybe he does. But no, abolishing the Senate would require constitutional reform and amendment in negotiation with the provinces.

Do the Conservatives seriously expect us to believe they have the appetite for entering constitutional negotiations with the provinces to abolish the Senate when they have been unwilling to use this process to usher in the meaningful sort of Senate reform they CLAIM to stand for? Please.

Keep huffing and puffing, gentlemen.

And in the mean time, the Conservatives will demonstrate their commitment to Senate reform tomorrow by sending one of their top fundraisers to patronage heaven. Why, Reformers? Because the Liberals do it too. Preston must be so proud.

Jeff Jedras operates the very interesting looking blog A BCer (http://bcinto.blogspot.com) based in Scarborough, Ontario.
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"Mr. Hug-a-Thug!"

Cutting House Arrest A Costly Proposition: Lawyer

September 26, 2008

The Conservatives' campaign promise to get rid of conditional house arrest sentences for about 30 crimes would be expensive, a group of Manitoba defence lawyers says.

If the Tories are re-elected October 14, leader Stephen Harper says they will end the use of house arrest sentences for property crimes, weapons offences, serious vehicular crimes, as well as drug trafficking, kidnapping and trafficking in people.

But house arrest is for low risk offenders and it saves the government millions of dollars, said Mark Wasyliw, spokesman for the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association.

If the 771 people currently serving conditional house arrest sentences in Manitoba were sent to jail, it would cost the government $110,000 per day or about $40 million a year, Wasyliw said.

Finding room for more prisoners in jails that are already overcrowded would also be a problem, he said.

Low risk offenders also hold jobs, pay taxes, support families and become rehabilitated in the community, he said."We're talking about huge sums of money for somebody who works and pays taxes," he said. "You're going to take that tax money out of the system and you're going to have to pay money for welfare for their families."But Manitoba Conservative candidate Steve Fletcher defends the party's campaign promise, saying the public wants the government to get tougher on criminals."

I hear this at the door all the time — that people are sick and tired of these revolving doors in the justice system and the hug-a-thug mentality of some of the other politicians," said the incumbent in the Charleswood-St. James Assiniboia riding of Winnipeg.

Harper has said the cost of sending more people to jail would be "small and manageable."