unimaginative2
Senior Member
Tories bar death sentence interventions
Canadian Press
November 1, 2007 at 5:58 PM EDT
OTTAWA — The Conservative government's announcement that it will no longer stand up for Canadians who face the death penalty in the United States is drawing fire from the opposition
The Tories have announced a change in Canada's foreign policy when it comes to Canadians on death row.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has said his government will not plead for the life of Alberta-born Ronald Allen Smith, who faces lethal injection in Montana for the 1982 murder of two men.
The government also announced that it will not attempt to save other Canadians who were given the death penalty following a fair trial in democratic countries like the U.S.
Canada has not had a state-sanctioned execution since 1962, and the federal government has habitually opposed the death penalty abroad in cases involving Canadians.
The Liberals say the policy shift is indicative of the Conservatives' eye-for-an-eye mentality on law and order.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague accuses them of giving tacit approval to capital punishment because they believe in it.
“Foreign policy is always a mirror of our domestic values,†Mr. McTeague said. “Here's the ideologues in the Conservative party trying to do indirectly that which they cannot do directly — which is capital punishment by proxy.
“(We must) expose for Canadians the ideological bent of this party, which is an eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth. That's completely inconsistent with where Canadians have been on this issue.â€
Mr. Smith, who killed two men during a road trip south of the border in 1982, is the only Canadian currently on death row in the U.S.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has said he is undecided about whether to commute his sentence.
Canadian Press
November 1, 2007 at 5:58 PM EDT
OTTAWA — The Conservative government's announcement that it will no longer stand up for Canadians who face the death penalty in the United States is drawing fire from the opposition
The Tories have announced a change in Canada's foreign policy when it comes to Canadians on death row.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has said his government will not plead for the life of Alberta-born Ronald Allen Smith, who faces lethal injection in Montana for the 1982 murder of two men.
The government also announced that it will not attempt to save other Canadians who were given the death penalty following a fair trial in democratic countries like the U.S.
Canada has not had a state-sanctioned execution since 1962, and the federal government has habitually opposed the death penalty abroad in cases involving Canadians.
The Liberals say the policy shift is indicative of the Conservatives' eye-for-an-eye mentality on law and order.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague accuses them of giving tacit approval to capital punishment because they believe in it.
“Foreign policy is always a mirror of our domestic values,†Mr. McTeague said. “Here's the ideologues in the Conservative party trying to do indirectly that which they cannot do directly — which is capital punishment by proxy.
“(We must) expose for Canadians the ideological bent of this party, which is an eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth. That's completely inconsistent with where Canadians have been on this issue.â€
Mr. Smith, who killed two men during a road trip south of the border in 1982, is the only Canadian currently on death row in the U.S.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has said he is undecided about whether to commute his sentence.