The Slightly Shorter Farber

...on Hudak's promise to put crooks in your parks:

Ontario has long been a province of tough, practical people. The Ontario way is to ask: "what works?" and make decisions based on reality, not ideology. But ideology, rather than reality, is behind Peter Shurman’s shortsighted campaign promise to have convicted criminals work near our homes, parks and schools. It is designed to score cheap political points and brings real safety risks to our community of Thornhill and, indeed in communities across Ontario.

[...]

As I write this, there are reports of criminals escaping from manual labour programs in Georgia, Alabama and West Virginia. Is this a program that we want in place at Bishop’s Cross Park, or behind Thornhill Woods Public School? Everyone agrees that criminals have a debt to repay to society, but that debt has to be repaid responsibly and, above all, safely for law-abiding families. Criminals belong behind high walls and steel bars – where current work programs keep them out of our community...

[...]

...because the plan involves placing criminals in residential settings, there are significant costs: Such criminals must be supervised by guards to prevent the much-higher chance of escapes, and the people of Thornhill living near where these criminals are working need extra policing around their homes, parks and schools so that they can feel secure. The PCs already have a $14 billion hole in their platform and they have not provided enough funding to ensure the safety of our community.

Similarly, Peter Shurman’s support for the creation of a new bureaucracy within the police services to install and supervise GPS monitors is not only baffling, but will cost a fortune. Apart from being costly, the plan isn’t well thought out. A 2007 report by Correctional Services of Canada found that false alarms and technological problems impeded the safe implementation of this plan. Stephen Harper’s own Public Safety Minister, Vic Toews, is on record saying GPS technology was unreliable, causing the federal Conservatives to re-examine its use.

Yeah, Bernie's running for the Libs up in Thornhill, so he isn't 100% impartial, but if anyone wants to discuss these proposals rationally, this is about as good a presentation of the argument against that I've seen.

Hudak Tories Politicize Perversion

On Team Hudak's media events:

...the only reason we went to the Bayshore Trail "event" was that it was so unbelievably, jaw-droppingly audacious to use the scene of a recent spate of flashings to suggest a GPS bracelet might do something to keep these cretins from pulling out their junk in public.

And here's a description of the 5'6, stockily built Bayshore Trail Flasher, coming to a Hudak chain gang near you...but wearing a GPS bracelet.

Hudak's Chain-Gang Proposal: Camp Run Amok Redux?

"There are ways to manage the risks; there are ways to diminish the risk, but there's no way to eliminate risk. Will some inmates escape? Will some inmates walk away? It's possible, and anyone who tells you it's not is lying."

Anyone remember Mike Harris and Camp Turnaround?  Tim Hudak's chain gang proposal risks the same result, but on a  province wide basis.

Coming To A Neighborhood Near You

One thing about Tim Hudak's call for chain-gangs  is that its a good reason to listen to Sam Cooke (who taught Rod Stewart to sing, incidentally).  You can play it while you're reading the rest:

My favorite bit of Tory policy wonkery with respect to the chain gang proposal so far:

Details on whether inmates would be manacled together to prevent escape have yet to worked out, [Hudak] said.

Personally, I think Hudak has to come clean on the manacles/no-manacles issue before he can be taken seriously.  I would obviously prefer a "no-manacle" policy, but as a typical Canadian compromise I would be able to accept manacles if they were offered in a series of attractive colours, and if the sex offenders and low level drug-dealers on the work crew filling pot-holes in downtown Markham were allowed to choose the colour of their own set of manacles.  There's more opportunity for self-realization that way, in my opinion.  But I'm a Liberal--I'm soft.
 
PS.  It's hard to know how faithfully Conservative bloggers represent the Conservative rank & file, but this guy has an interesting take.