Meet Jacque Demers, Tory rebel in the Senate:
The Stephen Harper's attempt to increase penalties for young offenders will be a formidable adversary: Jacques Demers. In an interview with LCN, the conservative senator voted against this key measure of his own party.
[...]
"I will not send a boy of 14 or 16 years to be assaulted in prison."
See, I told you I liked this guy. Nobody could coach Norris Division teams back in the 80s and not develop some sympathy for the down-and-out.
PS. The above quote is a translation from the French, so it sounds a bit rough.
h/t Imp on Twitter.
Bob Runciman:
ReplyDeleteMiller and Eves cabinet
When the Tories returned to power in the 1995 election, Runciman became Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services in the government of Mike Harris, holding the position from June 26, 1995 to June 17, 1999. "He championed privately-owned prisons during this period, and was criticized on one occasion for revealing the name of a young offender in the legislature." On June 17, 1999, he was moved to the portfolio of Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations, and on February 8, 2001, was named Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
On August 6, 2003, Runciman made controversial comments in the wake of tensions between Toronto's black community and the city's police. "I think some people make a living off this," Runciman said. "People who don't accept any degree of responsibility to solve the challenges and misunderstandings." After confirming that he was referring to members of the black community, he went on to say that "some folks here appear to have, in my view, a vested interest in seeing this kind of tension continue to exist."
His comments were later condemned by the Canadian Race Relations foundation and several other opposition MPP's
Is there a link behind that quote somewhere?
ReplyDeleteWikipedia.
ReplyDeleteDemers also said, that if the lLiberals had asked before the Conservaties, he would have gone with the Liberals..I love this Harper pick. with 'sober second thought'
ReplyDeleteI remembered something about it, mostly about outing the name of the youth offender, so went to Wikipedia to check it out and refresh my memory.
ReplyDeleteI was too lazy to do a Google search on it. I suppose I should have.
The guy is a real piece of work.
Would be interesting if a few, like Demers, went independant.
ReplyDeleteI think all senators should be independant.
Another thing I remembered about Runciman - he's for the death penalty:
ReplyDeleteThursday, August 13, 1998
Death for cop killers
ONTARIO'S TOP LAWMEN URGE:
By JEFF HARDER, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Cop killers should be executed, Ontario's justice ministers say.
Solicitor General Bob Runciman and Attorney General Charles Harnick are calling for the return of the death penalty in the wake of the murder of Det.-Const. Bill Hancox last week.
"When there is no question of guilt, capital punishment is appropriate," Runciman said yesterday. "I don't think I would want to restrict it to police killers. I think it is an appropriate penalty for the crime; I don't think it is a deterrent."
He said serial killers like Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olson deserve the same treatment.
"The death penalty is the appropriate response to those kinds of individuals."
As Lizt says, Demers deserves his post. Mr. Harper should have known that any coach of the Canadiens -- past or present -- could not be told what he must do.
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