Important read

This is a really important article and I urge Canadians to get involved in the discussion. We can't sit idly by while the Harper Party government runs roughshod over our country and we must get the message out there that Canadians DO care and Canadians ARE watching.

Analysis

Harper government's legal setbacks suggest strategy of confrontation

Legal conflicts reveal a clash of beliefs about how Canada should work

 

In what must feel to the prime minister like a visit to the shooting range, another tenet of the government's tough-on-crime agenda has been blown away.

 

Holding the rifle this time is respected Ottawa Judge David Paciocco. In tatters is the mandatory victim surcharge, a compulsory funding scheme implemented by the government to fund services to victims and their families.

The victim surcharge ruling is a clear signal the government's recent legal troubles are much more than a clash of personalities between Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and the prime minister, but rather a very real collision of beliefs about how Canada should work.

The surcharge itself isn't new, but the Harper government's approach is. The Conservatives made the charge mandatory for most offences and doubled the amount offenders could be on the hook for. When judges balked, Justice Minister Peter MacKay swore they would eventually "see the wisdom" in applying it.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-government-s-legal-setbacks-suggest-strategy-of-confrontation-1.2729421