Tory's nonsense on crime finally called out

This Globe article was good to see. Perhaps the most completely dishonest part of John Tory's campaign are his rants on crime. He would have us believe that it's gang warfare everywhere and no one feels they can safely go outside anymore (so that we need him as our protector to restore society from anarchy). He's totally wrong on many counts on this one and it's good to see he's been finally called out.

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Defence, prosecution alike reject PC attack on bail system

KIRK MAKIN From Saturday's Globe and Mail October 6, 2007 at 9:19 AM EDT

A campaign assault on the bail system by Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory has accomplished the rare feat of uniting both the prosecution and defence bar against his claims. Even hard-line police advocates are having trouble defending Mr. Tory's claims as well as the targets he has identified in a series of recent commercials and speeches.
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Basically, it's made clear that most of what Tory complains about ("catch and release") is a federal matter and also that's he's completely wrong that Ontario has a soft record on bail. Of course he cites the 7 out of 10 figure but that's for one year and one year does not make some big long pattern. The actual pattern is of crime going DOWN, but of course he's never once made mention of that, he'd rather we cower in our homes, except perhaps to go out to vote Conservative on October 10th so Big Brave Mr. Tory can save us from all the ills of the McGuinty justice system.

What's so interesting of Tory trying to pin crime on McGuinty aside from the points mentioned above is that he's blaming a small number of judges' decisions on bail and one or two plea deals made by Crown prosecutors on the Premier and is not able to point to a single policy/decision that the McGuinty government has put forth that would has actually aggravated the crime problem. The reality is we actually have more police on the streets and Crown Prosecutors are actually taking a tougher stance on crime and bail. So if it's a McGuinty "catch and release" system now there was an even greater Harris/Eves "catch and release" system before but the reality is that a lot of the crime issue can only be dealt with at the federal level or within the justice system itself (which if Tory doesn't remember is supposed to be independent of government). If there are actually any Ontario government policies that made the crime problem worse it would have to be the Harris/Eves war on the poor from 1995-2003 but somehow I don't think Mr. Tory will be talking about that before Election Day.

But let's remember that Ontario is in general one of the safest jurisdictions and the city of Toronto one of the safest cities in the world. I lived in Toronto for 5 years and never ONCE felt unsafe when alone at any hour of the night, but Tory would have us believe it exactly the opposite. Meanwhile he talks about how Brantford has a higher crime rate than Toronto and both are pretty low by any comparative standard.

Being a B-dot (Btfd) home-girl I don't think anyone there really thinks there's a crime problem. Crime is an issue yes, but it is everywhere and don't dramatize it so that it's like we are living in a war zone now it just insults our intelligence. Tory is making Brantford's reputation awful, bringing it up like 5 times in a televised debate. We don't need that! We just got over being known for the worst downtown in Canada! Worrying about this supposed crime rate will be more problematic than any actual crime. Does he want us to be fearful for stepping outside? Give me a break John, cuz when I want to go to Telly's convenience past dark to rent a video, you won't be there holding my hand and nor will I have a provincially paid cop as my personal bodyguard. I'll still go on my own and "risk it".

Anyways...a very close friend of mine currently lives in a U.S. city of 70,000 (Champaign-Urbana, IL) and he's been told not to go outside past 11 PM nor visit certain parts of the city because he could easily get held up at gun point or even shot. It gives me some real perspective on how lucky we are and makes me really puzzled how Mr. Tory opposes a hand-gun ban (which no matter which way you look at it reduces supply) while saying he's tough on crime.

So stop your fearmongering Mr. Tory almost NO ONE who actually deals with crime believes what you are saying so if you really want to be known as someone who is "straight with the people" (like he claimed in his closing statement at the debate) then stop deceiving the people of Ontario. Of course deception is a pattern of Mr. Tory's (religious schools comes to mind) that will continue and probably get worse till Election Day. Maybe he can come forward with some sensible things to say about the topic once this is all over. But that will probably be in his provincial retirement, cuz I think someone very shortly, if not already, has their eyes on his job.

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