Con Air Takes Flight

May 25, 2009

Stockwell Day Weekly Commentary

May 25th, 2009 - The long arm of the law just got a little longer. Criminals who think they can avoid arrest just by skipping to another province are in for a surprise.

Most law abiding citizens are the ones who are surprised when they learn that cons have been avoiding arrest simply by skipping to another province.  The problem is referred to as 'non-returnable warrants.' These types of warrants for arrest issued in one province make it very difficult for police officers in another province to put the collar on a bad guy (or girl) that has run to the new jurisdiction to seek refuge.  For a lot of reasons this has been a real problem for BC.

I guess it makes sense that if you are a criminal trying to stay warm in Toronto in the middle of winter, Vancouver looks pretty good.  Add to that the fact that until recently there has been no deterrent for law breakers to hit the road en route to sunnier climes.  Even if they do get nabbed the arresting officer's local police fund usually can't afford the costs of the flight and the guards required to take 'buddy' home.

Vancouver Chief of Police, Jim Chiu has not been a happy camper about this state of affairs. So he and other BC top cops decided to do something about it.  You may have read how they got busy with some innovative fund raising to cover the costs of flights and officers needed to escort the nasties back to where they were wanted.  The media referred to their project as 'Con Air'.  The label stuck and the public loved it.

Next, Chief Chiu and others sat down with us as MP's and explained in detail what the problem was. They had done their homework.  They pointed out the loop holes in the system and gave us some clear recommendations on how it might be fixed.

We liked what we heard. So we invited my colleague, Justice Minister Nicholson out for a visit to BC. He sat down with Chiefs and he liked what he heard too.  Now you might think that was the end of all the hard work. Not so fast pardner.  Changes to justice regulations often move at the speed of a glacier. But the police had created good momentum.

We worked with the Justice Minister and stayed focused on the needed changes. It took awhile (months in fact) but it finally happened.  This week I had the joy of making the announcement in Vancouver. We have now introduced a brand new offense under federal law.  If a con decides to take a holiday in another province to avoid arrest the police have extra powers to send him home. The new law means that the now unhappy traveller gets extra time added to the sentence already in place.  In fact, depending on the nature of the arrest the offender was fleeing, it could mean an extra 6 months to 2 years in the slammer.

I've asked the Chiefs to do an assessment after 6 months to let us know if the stream of 'visitors' has slowed done at all.  Oh, and the Chiefs and Mayors of BC have not stopped there. They've given us a list of common sense ideas which would lead to a more efficient and better run justice system.  I'm happy to say we're plugging away at that list of improvements.  More to come.

My main concern is that the Opposition Liberals and NDP will continue to work against the direction we want to go in justice reform.  That's been a real problem in the past.  Hopefully it won't be in the future.

This week we also brought in changes to credit card regulations. In this time of temporary downturn we want to make sure that individuals incurring more debt are fully aware of what they're getting into.

So we're requiring credit card companies and banks to publish in clear details exactly what a customer is getting into. We also will require the companies to show how long it will take an individual to pay off their personal amount at a set rate.

I'll keep you advised of how many of your thoughts and ideas we are able to push through.  It's all about safer homes and streets for law abiding citizens and tougher sanctions for potential abusers.