There are few issues in political life that garner near unanimous support across political parties and among Canadians. However, the desire to eliminate 2 for 1 sentencing by the courts is one of those issues.
2 for 1 sentencing is the practice of Canadian courts giving two days credit for every one day an individual serves while waiting trial for a crime. For example, if a person is charged with a violent sexual assault and waits in prison one year for their trial to begin, they can be given two years credit towards their sentence when it is handed down. That 2 for 1 time means if they are sentenced to 2 years prison time at trial, they can walk free that very day if they waited 1 year in jail for the trial to start.
Because our court and justice system in Manitoba is so backed up, it means that thousands of days of prison time are chopped off sentences every year as a result of the 2 for 1 jail time discount. Criminals have come to rely on this discount for light sentences.
You might be wondering which government brought in a law that would give criminals a 2 for 1 discount. In fact, no government has ever brought in such a law. It was the courts who made this decision. This “judge made law” has frustrated many victims and law-abiding citizens and recently, the federal Conservative government introduced legislation to make it clear to the courts that a 2 for 1 discount on sentences to criminals is not acceptable.
Virtually every political party in Canada and in the House of Commons has agreed that it is important that the practice of 2 for 1 sentencing end. The legislation passed through the House of Commons and should have quickly become law. However Liberal Senators decided to gut the legislation essentially preferring to allow the 2 for 1 sentence discount to continue.
The decision by Canada’s unelected Liberal Senators to hold up legislation that is supported across Party lines and that is intended to make all Canadians safer in their home communities cannot be defended. In fact, media had a difficult time finding any Liberal Senator to step forward and defend the decision. Finally, Manitoba Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs came forward to say that the Senate had the legal right to hold up and change legislation passed by the House of Commons.
That may well be, but there is a difference between a legal right and doing the right thing. The decision of Liberal Senators to defy the wishes of Canadians to end 2 for 1 sentencing discounts for criminals shows clearly why the Senate in its current state is broken and needs to be changed. Liberal Senators may succeed in slowing down the elimination of 2 for 1 sentence discounts, but in the process they are likely to accelerate the case for a reformed Senate.
