I just sent the following email to every Liberal MP, including Michael Ignatieff, and I strongly recommend that everyone reading this do the same. To that end, I put together a handy email list of the entire Liberal caucus on my Facebook page. Just copy, paste, and email away!
As a member of the Liberal Party, I strongly urge you and your fellow Liberal caucus members to vote against the Conservative crime bill C-15, which would impose U.S.-style mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.
Mandatory minimums have proven time and time again to be ineffective and counterproductive. In fact, nearly every expert witness appearing before the Justice Committee examining this legislation said that it would fill our jails while doing absolutely nothing to curb crime or decrease drug addiction. Countries around the world - including the United States - are backing away from this type of narrowly punitive approach to drug crime, and Canada should be doing the same. Instead, this bill will drag us backwards.
This is not a confidence motion. What it is is an opportunity for the Liberal Party to show some spine and prove that our Party still represents progressive, practical policy and not blind populism.
For more information from a legal perspective, please read the following analysis:
http://lawiscool.com/2009/06/05/dont-do-mandatory-drug-sentances/
Thank you for your consideration.
Hope other members of the LPC follow your example, Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteWay ahead of you. My revolt started the day the Liberals chose a faux liberal like Michael Ignatieff as its leader.
ReplyDeleteI really do sympathize. I was once a left leaning Liberal. I wish you luck with your campaign. I fear that once again the grass roots will be ignored but I'm a cynic. Power to the people. Bad policy is bad policy no matter who supports it.
ReplyDeleteI do not belong to facebook, so what do I do.
ReplyDeleteThe vote has been delayed to Monday.
ReplyDeleteLet the weekend lobbying begin.
Anon1 -
ReplyDeleteDoes the link not work if you aren't on Facebook? If not, drop me an email and I'll send you the list direct.
MD -
I was once a Dipper with a firearms license and a soft spot for the monarchy - go figure! :) I've actually been feeling pretty cynical all day, but doing this made me feel much better.
Thanks for the mailing lists and the use of your letter. I emailed Ignatieff and all the eastern MPs last night. I think I will email the rest of them today. An automatic acknowledgement response is generated when contacting the leader.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely *unbelievable*! that any responsible person, nevertheless those elected to perform the duties of a ruling party in a developed, democratic nation, could even seriously /suggest/ that we adopt the same tactic that has proven to be such an nmitigated disaster south of the border. How blind must one be to ignore the damning US statistics that see more people in prison there today than were incarcerated under Stalin in his "Gulag Archipelago".
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I see the hidden hand of the prison/police unions who know that conservatives are particularly susceptible to the use of fear as a means to draw power to themselves. For more on their means and methods, "The Authoritarians" has been made available on the web by Dr. Robert Altemeyer, a man whose research on the authoritarian personality disorder is frequently cited and built on by the social scientists assembled by the Dept. Homeland Security's own counter-terrorism panel. Google his work, or at DHS look for "Political Conservatism As Motivated Social Cognition". Or Oklahoma Corrections for "Change in the Conservative Personality Equals Change in the Offender with a Resultant Reduction in Recidivism"
http://www.doc.state.ok.us/offenders/ocjrc/95/950725C.HTM
And yes, it means exactly what it looks like! You don't give guns to these f'ing people...?! And you sure as hell don't elect them to lead your friggin' country!!??!