Legal Reforms

Monday, October 27, 2008

There’s a commonplace story today at http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/525059 all about buried reports, stalled justice etc. etc.

The focus seems to be on victims of crime, with some emphasis on victims of violent crime.

Amongst other text I read:

The lesson was driven home eight years ago when he attended "candidates' school" after deciding to run for federal office as a Conservative.

"One thing they told us is, 'If you really screw up and it hits the paper, don't worry about it: the public's memory is 48 hours,' " Wamback said. "It's a tragedy, but that's the way our system works."

And a few paragraphs further on, some qualification:

Wamback, whose son Jonathan was left comatose and paralyzed for months after a beating in 1999, is angry about the decision, saying the appointment of an advocate is "a moral imperative" because crime victims are often too distressed to speak for themselves.

Here’s a thought.

Each time a youngster (under age 21) is gunned down or knifed, and dies as a result of the violence, send one of the parents (the parents get to choose) to parliament as an member of the provincial parliament. For ten years. Salary equivalent to at least their current salary. Indexed.

Why ten years? Because the first such MP will be lonely, alone, and with little impact.

The Toronto Star ( http://www.thestar.com/article/462663 says “But in 2007, Toronto had the most homicides of any CMA – 111 – and its highest rate since 1992.”

CanadaOnline ( http://canadaonline.about.com/od/ontario/a/mppsont.htm ) tells me “There are 107 seats in the Ontario Legislative Assembly”.

Do this anyway you like.

* Maintain a list of parents waiting to be assigned MP status.

* Any death of an MP is replaced with a grieving parent.

* Any by-election is automatically filled with a grieving parent.

* Pension off the longest serving MPP

You get the idea.

Within five years, grieving parents would get changes that today we can only dream of.

A grieving parent can resign at any time (no pension, let’s say), and be replaced instantly with the next grieving parent from the list.

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