Stockwell Day’s Weekly Commentary Serious Crime, NATO and Space Cadets

April 07, 2008

Her smile was the first thing I noticed. That, along with brown eyes that seemed to sweep you right into her world, was almost enough to cause you to miss the fact that she was confined to a wheelchair with little ability to move and none to talk.

Six short years ago, Ji-Won Park was a beautiful twenty-something woman with a love of life and a future of promise. Out for some brisk exercise in one of our beautiful BC parks she was attacked by a complete stranger, strangled and left for dead. Suffering extreme brain damage and unimaginable psychological shock, doctors say she will remain a quadriplegic, though her family prays for better.

She was brought to see me by her loved ones and her MLA. That heart-melting smile turned briefly downward and gave way to a few quiet sobs as her brother, almost in a whisper, shared the purpose of the visit. They had just learned that the perpetrator of the horrific event was out of jail and free as a bird because of statutory release, also known as automatic parole. That means, despite the fact he has never shown remorse and had refused any kind of treatment in jail he had been set free, automatically, after serving only two thirds of his time. That's the law.

As her brother poignantly asked, "Why should that man go free and my sister wind up sentenced for life?" Part of that answer stems from a complex web of legislation, regulations and court rulings. That gives such criminals a bundle of rights which seem to run counter to most people's sense of justice. I assured this brave woman that our government wants to replace automatic release with earned parole which stresses that offenders must demonstrate that they are rehabilitated before they are released on parole.

Budget 2008 announced that the government will be moving forward with corrections transformation. This process, currently underway, also involves legislative changes. This will take time but we are committed to implementing the promise we have made in order to improve public safety.

This week also saw the PM once again playing a central role on the world stage. The venue was the NATO meeting on Afghanistan. The question was whether other nations would commit troops to assist Canada in the high risk Kandahar province. Prime Minister Harper was effective in making the point that nobody wanted to see another Rwanda and that NATO needed to complete the work of seeing Afghanistan become stable and self sustaining. Hopefully we will soon see the extra commitment of more troops from other countries.

This week we also saw mixed reaction to two initiatives related to First Nations. First, we want to see First Nations Aboriginals included in all human rights legislation. Presently that is not the case. The previous government was reluctant to do that. We believe all people deserve those protections.

Secondly, there was opposition to legislation we have introduced which requires that funds which go to First Nations groups should be subject to audits, just as all other funds are. Some Opposition members are against this. Many Aboriginals have told us they want to see the protections and accountability which audits bring. We agree.

On the extra-terrestrial front, we announced this week a new recruitment program for Canadians wanting to be astronauts. Space really is the last frontier, including for land locked reasons, the development of breakthrough medical products and alloys at zero gravity. Science and math classes in school take on new meaning when students realize the mysteries of outer space can be unlocked for the good of humankind.

On a very earthbound note, "How 'bout the Penticton Vees in the finals against Nanaimo?” I was at the game on Saturday night. Talk about rockets!
This team really flies. Hope they go all the way to the Nationals!