April 26, 2010

OTTAWA –  Leon Benoit, Member of Parliament for Vegreville-Wainwright, today highlighted the actions the Conservative Government has taken to help Canadians who fall victim to crime. “I am proud to be part of a Government that has a strong record of standing up for victims of crime” said Benoit.
Our Government recently introduced legislation to end the use of house arrest for serious and violent criminals convicted of property and other serious crimes” said Benoit. “Our government believes those who commit serious and violent crimes should serve their time behind bars, not in the comfort of their homes. This legislation would make it clear to the courts that house arrest will no longer be available to serious and violent criminals.” Benoit pointed out that similar legislation had previously been introduced by his government, but the bill was stalled and gutted by the opposition parties.
We introduced legislation which would allow victims to claim and recover damages through Canadian courts against individuals, organizations and foreign states listed by the Government of Canada as supporting or perpetrating terrorism” continued Benoit. “And we introduced legislation to repeal the ‘faint-hope clause’ so that murderers will no longer be able to apply for early parole. By ending faint-hope reviews, we will spare victims’ families the anguish of attending repeated parole eligibility hearings and having to relive their losses, over and over again.”
Benoit explained that his Government “has always made the protection of law-abiding Canadians one of our top priorities. We have always believed that every victim matters.” Benoit said his Conservative Government has put forward many measures to put the rights of victims ahead of the rights of criminals, including:

• Establishing the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime and providing $52 million over four years to increase support for victims of crime; House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Box 300, Mannville, Alberta T0B 2W0
• Passing the Tackling Violent Crime Act, which toughened sentencing and bail for serious gun crimes, strengthened penalties for impaired driving, better protects society from dangerous offenders and better protects youth from sexual predators; and
• Introducing legislation to strengthen the way the young offenders system deals with violent and repeat young offenders, including an amendment to make protection of society a primary goal of the system.

 As announced in the Speech from the Throne in March, our government will be introducing a number of bills to strengthen the rights of victims, including legislation to make the victim surcharge mandatory, which would increase funding to victim services, and legislation to facilitate access to EI benefits for family members of victims of crime” added Benoit. “As well, we will re-introduce legislation to provide tougher sentences for fraud and to require the consideration of restitution to victims of fraud.”

“Our Conservative Government is continuing our strong record of action to protect the rights of victims of crime” concluded Benoit.  “We believe the justice system must put the rights of law-abiding citizens ahead of the rights of criminals.”