Colin Mayes, MP -- Okanagan - Shuswap

Bill C-10

October 12, 2011

Keeping our streets and communities safe has always been a priority of our government. Unfortunately, our minority government was not able to enact the legislation we needed to fulfill our commitment to Canadians. Now, with our majority government, we are able to move forward on our legislation without it being watered down by the opposition.

We have wrapped our former crime bills into Bill C-10 which includes: The Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act; Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act; Sebastiens Law (Protecting the Public from Violent Young Offenders); Ending House Arrest for Property and other Serious Crimes by Serious and Violent Offenders Act; Increasing Offender Accountability Act; Eliminating Pardons for Serious Crimes Act; Keeping Canadians Safe Act(International Transfer of Offenders); Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act; and, Preventing the Trafficking Abuse and Exploitation of Vulnerable Immigrants Act.

A Police official has said that if British Columbia’s 1,000 habitual repeat offenders were in prison, the work load of the province’s police would be 50% lower. Yes, there is a high dollar cost to keep an offender in prison, but it is also costly to have these repeat offenders on the streets of our communities.

One of the priorities for any civil government is to protect its citizens. These changes will assist the police in fulfilling these obligations on behalf of our government and hopefully assure citizens that they are safe in their communities.

Naturally, we need to consider and invest in the rehabilitation of offenders. Citizens and communities need to reach out to offenders and help by extending a hand to help offenders become productive and law abiding citizens.

Your government’s intent is evident: we are going to take hardened criminals off our streets.

Colin Mayes, MP

Okanagan Shuswap