More electioneering

Let's be clear. The criminal justice system has some major problems.

That's obvious whether you are a conservative Conservative or a liberal Liberal.

What we need is a global overhaul of the entire system. All options on the table. And to do that we need an all Party committee, with genuine experts, a decent budget and a willingness to listen, learn and come up with the best consensus possible.

Ok, not going to happen, but that's what we need.

Random attacks on bits and pieces of the system with scattered legislation addressing isolated issues is just politics. (And I am not opposed to 'truth in sentencing' so long as we have a rational approach to sentencing and treatment).

The story below, which would trouble most readers, is just more politics. The criminal system is too important to reduce to sound bites.

Con on the town
Winnipeg Free Press
Byline: Mike McIntyre mug

Robert Dmytruk shot an innocent bystander to death and tried to kill
the victim's girlfriend so there would be no witnesses.

He's serving time in Stony Mountain and isn't eligible for parole until 2011.

Yet that hasn't stopped the 31-year-old former gang member from exploring Winnipeg shopping malls, visiting the public library,
getting a Slurpee from 7- Eleven or exercising at a city gym in recent months.

Dmytruk didn't make a dramatic prison break nor is he a fugitive on
the run. His forays into the community have been done with the blessing of the National Parole Board and the Correctional Services of Canada .

"It's ridiculous," Manitoba Tory MP Shelly Glover told the Free Press upon learning Dmytruk started getting a taste of freedom almost three full years before his earliest possible release date. "Where is the consideration for the victim's family here?"

Glover said she thought most Canadians would be shocked to hear of Dmytruk's case. She said the federal government plans to act fast to bring new laws that would prevent convicted killers like him from stepping out of prison before they hit their minimum parole eligibility.

"I believe in truth in sentencing. Criminals who commit first- and
second- degree murder should no longer be able to apply for early
release," said Glover. "Our government is working on a number of different clauses."