Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, February 03, 2012

Capital punishment in Canada? It's not so crazy

On Wednesday, Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu was heading into a caucus meeting when a reporter asked him if the Tories had any intention of bringing back the death penalty in Canada. He answered that he himself did not support the death penalty. But in certain cases - where rehabilitation is not an option - the Senator added in French: "Basically I think that every murderer should have a rope in his cell and he can decide on his own life. But I'm against the death penalty."

So he doesn't support killing criminals, per se. He just supports them not being alive anymore.

The Senator was predictably assailed from all sides, and quickly backtracked. But was that retreat really necessary? Canadians do seem to be willing to have a discussion about capital punishment. A survey by Angus Reid in 2010 found that a strong majority of Canadians - a full 62% - are supportive of capital punishment for homicide. So much for NDP leader Nycole Turmel's contention that a procapital punishment viewpoint "doesn't represent the Canadian society at all." It might not represent the Canadian society the NDP wishes existed, but it's the NDP that's offside with Canadians on this one. Mr. Boisvenu may have awkwardly stumbled into a potential winning issue for the Conservatives.
And there would be no one better than Mr. Boisvenu to carry that banner. Before being appointed to the upper chamber in 2010, he spent years as a victims' advocate, his passion driven in large part by the kidnapping and sex-killing of his adult daughter Julie in 2002. His personal story, plus the fact that he would not be an enthusiastic supporter of capital punishment, make him the perfect candidate to sell a limited use of capital punishment in the Canadian justice system. There's willingness among Canadians there. We just need someone to lead the charge.

Not that it will happen, of course. Capital punishment, despite not being explicitly declared a no-go area by the Tories (like gay marriage and abortion), is probably too controversial for them to touch. Indeed, the Prime Minister has already expressed his "personal support" for capital punishment in limited case, but also said his government wouldn't introduce legislation (and even that was enough to trigger howls of outrage from the opposition).

Pity. Until and unless a Canadian government moves to recognize the desire of the people for a return of capital punishment, hoping our worst killers off themselves will remain our country's secondbest option by default.

Original Article
Source: National Post 
Author: Matt Gurney 

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