iN DISCUSSION: The ‘cold reality’ of Canada’s justice system

This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Build it in your account or email me anytime.

---

BC politics is never boring

It was never going to be John Rustad.

He found himself atop the BC Conservative pile by pure luck and circumstance, one of its only two sitting MLAs after he was kicked out of the BC Liberal/United caucus.

No one knew voters were shopping for a new righter wing home in the last election, but that’s how they found the BC Conservatives and that’s how Rustad wound up as Leader of the Opposition and within a whisker of becoming premier.

But he never had the credibility, within his own party or outside of it. 

So the new B.C. Conservative Party will choose its first real leader of the new era, one that could conceivably lead to government. 

It’ll be fascinating to watch. Who do they choose? Will they continue marching farther to the right? Or take a softer approach, someone who knows power comes by welcoming and gathering more people under a bigger tent to their movement which is, really, only a couple years old.

My guess is they are going to choose the bigger tent, perhaps lead by an MLA from one of our ridings. That’s why they folded BC United, to nix the competition. They want to win. They want the NDP out. 

All the same people in BC United have simply doffed their cloaks for new colours. They’ve smoothed over some of the rougher edges of that right wing already by being rid of Tara Armstrong and Dallas Brodie. 

If I’m right, they’ll press out a few more wrinkles and we’ll be right back where we began. The Conservatives will be the new Liberal/United Party but with the name they always should have had and the NDP carries on. 

That just leaves One BC and that’s the part I’m interested in. It’s now the far right hinterland that was once the BC Conservative Party, the one voters recently swung to. It’s now the logical home for anyone on the right who already resisted the Liberal/United tune already. 

If the last election was really about moving farther right, we’ll see defections and OneBC grow once more. If it was just the results of pragmatism, we’ll have an electable leader for the Conservatives and OneBC will vanish.

That’s what the winds tell me. I’d like to hear your take. Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

---

Trying to make sense of Penticton’s decision on tiny homes

I’m having a lot of trouble making sense of Penticton’s response to the tiny homes question.

It’s interesting watching how various cities deal with common issues. Kamloops responded to its homelessness situation by creating its own mini police force. Kelowna was quick on board with tiny homes.

Tiny homes have been a revelation. It allows the cities to host a flexible number of basically shelter spaces. If Kelowna has enough shelter space, it satisfies a Supreme Court legal requirement allowing it to disband homeless camps, restore the rail trail for everyone.

That was made available to Penticton by BC Housing as well. They had a path to finally, legally, remove the camp because they’d have tiny homes on some city owned industrial land.

But they turned it down.

They said no thank you to millions of dollars from the provincial government. It was always the province’s problem to deal with and they denied them that opportunity. Again.

Why? Because they might be able to drink alcohol or do drugs in the tiny homes. 

It makes no sense. I’m pretty sure they’re drinking and doing drugs down by the river. I’m also pretty sure there’s plenty of goods stolen from the community just to stay warm and provide themselves shelter.

We’re still absorbing the results of yesterday’s decision, but it looks to me like a majority of councillors refused to solve these three huge problems for the city, with minimum investment, to reserve their puritanical judgments.

This is the problem with electing one-issue zealots to council. They can’t see past their own dogma to a potentially elegant solution that isn’t theirs. I have no idea what Campbell Watt is thinking other than he should be a little embarrassed at his take on this.

What’s your take? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

---

Penticton shuts door on tiny homes for homeless

iN RESPONSE to Wednesday’s newsletter editorial on Penticton’s Tiny Homes.

As (Penticton) Mayor Bloomfield indicated we currently have dry facilities. They do not appear to have solved the drug use and crime issues that some are so very concerned about.

The attempt to argue that any such program should focus on detox and rehabilitation is, at best, pie in the sky. If someone enters detox followed by rehab, assuming that they can get into such programs, and are then placed back into the same situation in which they were using prior to detox and rehab, there’s a much higher likelihood of a relapse.

-Kate Alexander via email

---

Taking care of victims not the responsibility of the ‘justice system’

This might sound cold and uncaring, but I feel it must be said.

First, I have nothing but sympathy for Jason Gaudreault. His wife was killed under terrible circumstances, not that there are ever good ones.

He’s thrust before a spotlight. We’re watching him process and grieve and learn. I’m not judging him, just observing his torment as he confronts his own incorrect myths about the “justice system” and what it does and doesn’t do.

It’s not his fault.

One day, he had no idea how police or courts work, no reason to know and thank goodness. The next day, he’s pushed backwards into relying on both for what feels like his life and he’s confronting the reality of what he’s found.

It’s incomprehensible to him. And to all in his position.

You’re absolutely right, Jason, none of this is about you. It’s not about Tatjana Stefanski’s daughters either, nor indeed victims of any crime. 

It is all about the accused.

And that is actually how it should be. It’s a feature, not a bug.

It’s got one job — determining if the government of Canada used the strength of its vast resources appropriately to charge the correct person for the correct crime against the Crown and if so, formulate a plan to best use those same vast resources to reform that offender or hold them against their will.

It’s a lot. And it’s not to be taken lightly.

Victims typically aren’t helpful to that process. 

The Crown and RCMP once had resources to keep families informed, but that’s mostly a courtesy, side of the desk stuff which is first to drop off when stretched thin as we know they are. 

Sure, reforms over the years have forced voices for victims into court, but judges will tell you honestly that most Victim Impact Statements mean absolutely nothing to the analysis of formulating a sentence. 

More hindrance, really. They tend to bring emotion, which again is entirely unhelpful to the process.

That’s just the cold reality. 

If there’s frustration, it might be because we expect too much of it. Taking care of victims is up to the rest of us, not the court system.

That’s my take anyway, what’s yours? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

---

iN RESPONSE

Penticton MLA introduces bill to make it easier to recall elected politicians

I think we need a fair number of signatures for recall, but I applaud a shorter time line. Let’s go!!!

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Kelowna MLA wants to make a Freedom Convoy stat holiday in BC

Oh my god when can we get rid of this moron? We need to change the waiting period on recalls. Then we need voters to do their homework when voting.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Carney, Smith sign pipeline deal, open door to changing B.C. tanker ban

Before everyone gets their knickers in a knot. It’s a memorandum. She will be out of power before they find someone interested in putting up the money, before anyone finds a route etc etc. If this makes her happy and Alberta thinks they’re winning good for them.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Dog found in garbage bag at 100 Mile House dump

Absolutely horrific. What that poor dog has gone through. It’s unbelievable that there are people like that out there.

— Peter Boyd via iNFOnews.ca

Summerland animal sanctuary followed avian flu protocol and saved two peacocks

Yes, there’s a right way and wrong way to deal with this situation. No matter whose side you are on the Ostrich farmers did it to themselves and unfortunately for the birds.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

---

Tara Armstrong Recall Countdown

Tara Armstrong is currently the MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream. She rode the coattails of the BC Conservative Party, got elected, then rejected and left the party to serve as an Independent within weeks because the Conservatives were too left wing. Now she gets to spout moronic, hateful rhetoric and claim that her riding supports her.

Elections BC says you can recall an MLA if 40% of eligible voters in the riding sign a recall petition — but not for the first 18 months after an election. Some people started an online petition calling for a byelection once she made a shift to independent, then got herself a raise by forming her own party, but it won’t mean anything until the countdown clock hits zero.

So let the countdown begin!

---

Disclaimer: Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the editor, iNFOnews.ca, iNFOTEL MULTIMEDIA, its partners, principals or advertisers.