Law, Order, and Justice Policy

Canadian Action Party recognizes that fear is the most critical factor threatening freedom in any country. Whether it be fear of freedom to speak, voice opinions that differ from government or the freedom to walk at night on our streets.

We believe laws are created to facilitate ease of movement in a civilized society. They are not meant to control society as in a police state. There are several laws which are being passed or have already been passed in the name of security which CAP believes are threats to our civil liberties and democracy.

It has to be acknowledged that fear is one of the predominant emotions of our times. Women, especially, are afraid to walk alone at night - sometimes, even in the daytime. So a principal aim of CAP's policy is to reduce that fear to the maximum extent possible in today's society.

There are two characteristics predominant amongst people who commit crimes. First, the vast majority has been abused at some stage of their lives. Second, the majority is unemployed at the time the crime is committed. This is one more powerful reason that the Canadian Action Party is committed to a policy of full employment (about 4% unemployed).

Achieving that, in itself, would reduce the crime rate significantly.

Of those who do commit crimes there are two distinct categories. The first includes hardened criminals and repeat offenders. For those, we would provide stiff penalties and eliminate automatic parole. The second comprises first-time offenders and persons guilty of minor crimes. For these we would ease their path back into civil life and encourage them to stay clean. Rehabilitation is by far the most cost-effective way of treating criminal behaviour.

We would give judges wider discretion about trying young offenders in adult court. We know of young people who have committed serious crimes because they knew they would not be subject to the full impact of the law.

Another reform would be to fund enough additional judges so that cases could be tried more expeditiously. It is totally unacceptable to see cases, including serious crimes, being dismissed because too much time had elapsed.

Canadian Action Party believes that prevention should be the policy of choice for a just society. We know that poverty contributes to crime rates. We know that children who live in poverty are less likely to excel in school, and to be left unsupervised. We know that opening up extracurricular activities to all our children will keep them healthy, active in positive ways and less likely to begin a path of criminal behaviour out of boredom. A full athletic program within a publicly funded school system would assist with that goal. Criminals are not born they are created! All people in our society need to be given the tools to become contributing members of society and we believe it is government's role to create policy that encourages that atmosphere.

On the subject of abortion, we respect the Supreme Court decision of 1998, which ruled in favour of a woman's right to choose. And we fully endorse the Charter of Rights declaration of equality of gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. We also fully respect our member's right to moral conscience. Therefore all elected Canadian Action Party MP's would be free to vote according to their conscience on moral issues.