By Arthur Weinreb
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
In the wake of the high profile shooting death of a 15-year-old student at a north Toronto school last month, crime has become a hot button political issue at all levels of government. The federal NDP have come up with a couple of proposals that, while not inherently bad are unrealistic and unworkable.
Besides the usual spend billions more on pre-pre-kindergarten or some other such thing strategy in order to stamp out the future criminals without having to put the blame on young thugs and what constitutes their families, MP Peggy Nash has called on the federal government to stop guns from coming into Canada from the United States. You can't go wrong when you blame the U.S. Well, this could actually be done. As we would be relying on imperfect people to stop the guns, some of the weapons would make it across the border. But the flow of firearms could be reduced to a trickle. All that has to be done would be to thoroughly search every car, tractor trailer, bus and all vehicles arriving at a port of entry. This thorough search would deter people from attempting to bring guns into the country save those who think that they are capable of outsmarting the border agents.
Of course movement of people and goods between Canada and the United States would grind to a halt. The price of imports from our neighbour to the south would rise sharply while exports would be reduced. NDP leader Jack Layton would then be the first one off the mark; yelping and howling about how all the "working people" are suffering. It's good politics and of course trendy to blame the U.S. for all our problems but the idea is completely unworkable and unrealistic.
The NDP, to whom any problem can be solved if you just throw enough money at it, are also suggesting that more money be allocated for witness protection programs. This is to combat what is happening in major cities where there are never any witnesses to a violent crime that is committed at a party in the middle of 200 people. If only there was more funding for witness protection programs, more witnesses would come forward.
Another simplistic solution. This suggestion is predicated on the notion that fear is the only reason why witnesses fail to come forward. Fear of repercussions from gangs and others is certainly a large part of the silence that usually follows big city crime, but it's not the only reason. If a witness knows who committed the crime they can always call Crimestoppers anonymously and make the call from a payphone if they're worried about using their own telephones. The major difficulty that a prospective witness has in providing information in this way is finding a pay phone.
It is of course politically incorrect to say this, but a lot of this violent crime takes place within the black community. The left, aided and abetted by their friends in the media, most notably the Toronto Star, have spent years arguing that society is racist and the police, when not busy shooting young black men, are spending their days and nights engaged in racial profiling. The reality is that a lot of witnesses wouldn't come forward if they believed themselves to be immortal and immune from any retaliatory action from dangerous criminals. There is a lot more involved in why witnesses won't come forward than simply fear.
Although we always talk about Canada being "diverse", the fact is that vast swaths of the country are white and/or aboriginal. The only places where young black males can easily disappear in are major cities that have significant black populations in which they can blend into. They can't easily disappear to a small rural town and remain unnoticed. Pouring more money into witness protection programs will have limited value in ensuring more witnesses will come forward.
But hey – anything that prevents the bad guys from being responsible for their own actions is okay with the NDP.
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