Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 28, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 A 10 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 CANADA / WORLD winnipegfreepress. com For more details visit waa. ca/ services ...... ................ ............ .......... Under Construction New Offerings .......... ...... ...... ........ ................ ........ ............ .......... .... .............. ...... ................ .... .......... ...... .............. ( 204) 956.9699 stainlessconcepts. ca RAILINGS COUNTERTOPS BACKSPLASHES SCULPTURE ART Bringing your ideas to life COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS DESIGN, FABRICATE AND INSTALL 100- 100 Princess St. | 204- 925- 4162 | interiorillusions. ca Free LiteRise or Ultra Glide Upgrade on Duette honeycomb shades! Valid on orders placed between January 1st and April 30th, 2015 OTTAWA - The government's longpromised plan to lock up some criminals and throw away the key will make prisons more dangerous, opposition MPs say. Denying any chance of parole to the worst violent offenders will increase the chances of prison guards being attacked, the NDP and Liberal public safety critics said Tuesday as the government signalled legislation would come before summer. Opposition MPs want a greater emphasis on rehabilitating inmates. Criminologists dismissed the lifebehind- bars initiative after it was announced in the October 2013 speech from the throne, saying there are already legal provisions to ensure the most heinous offenders never get out. At the time, the government said those convicted of the worst crimes - such as multiple murders or sex assaults on children - could spend the rest of their lives in prison. Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney says legislation will be tabled before Parliament rises in June. " People who commit serious and violent crimes in a repetitive manner constitute a menace to society," Blaney said Tuesday after a House of Commons committee meeting. " The premier objective is to protect society." When the plan was first outlined, Justice Minister Peter MacKay said the provisions would be applied very narrowly. " When I say the worst of the worst, the most violent, repeat offenders, we're talking about multiple murders, multiple sexual assaults on the most vulnerable - our children," he said shortly after the throne speech. " We want to ensure that certain individuals capable and convicted of those offences will never be let out of prison." MacKay acknowledged there are tools - such as the dangerous offender designation - to keep some criminals from being released. The Conservative government has also scrapped the socalled faint- hope clause that allowed some inmates with life sentences to seek early parole. Still, the government wants to ensure " there are no loopholes" that criminals can exploit, MacKay said. In the Commons, Conservative MP Daryl Kramp pounced on the opposition Tuesday, saying he was disturbed to learn the NDP and Liberals " will oppose this legislation - legislation that they have not even yet read." Opposition critics actually said they would look at the government's bill before pronouncing judgment. But they clearly characterized the Conservative approach as wrongheaded. " This is a government that emphasizes punishment, punishment, punishment, when the purpose of our corrections system is to build safer communities by rehabilitating those who are in the prison system," said NDP public safety critic Randall Garrison. Offenders sentenced to life may be released from prison one day, but they remain under supervision for the rest of their lives, he noted after the meeting. " We already have in this country a life sentence that means life," Garrison said. " And we also have very high success rates of those who are on parole." The American prison system saw violence increase under policies that emphasized putting more people in jail, Garrison added. " So I would have concern about the safety of corrections officials in that kind of situation," he said. Liberal public safety critic Wayne Easter echoed that fear. " You have an offender that is much more dangerous, as a rule," Easter said. " He or she is going to be in prison in any event, and so what's the difference if they get in trouble and cause correctional officers difficulties?" Easter stressed the need for prevention and rehabilitation. " It's been proven time and time again that penalties alone are not the answer," he said. - The Canadian Press By Jim Bronskill Tory plan puts guards in danger: opposition OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his opposition rivals are offside with most Canadians when they criticize the military's repeated gunfights with the Islamic State. Harper was responding to question- period attacks by both the NDP and Liberals, who say the Conservatives misled people about the extent to which Canada's special forces troops would be involved in combat in northern Iraq. At the outset, Harper and top military commander Gen. Tom Lawson made it clear the elite trainers would not accompany Kurdish fighters into battle, but would instead stay behind the lines to give advice and instruction. In a statement last week, Lawson said the mission had since " evolved," but Harper brushed that contradiction aside Tuesday, saying it's clear the opposition parties don't support the mission. " Once again it is the leader of the NDP who is caught in his own contradictions," the prime minister said during question period. " Canadian troops, under their commanders, are executing exactly the mission that Canadians have given them, that this Parliament has given them, that Canadians expect. They are advising, they are assisting. " Guess what? If fired upon, they are going to shoot back; and if they kill some of the ( IS) terrorists, Canadians are going to support that, no matter what the New Democrats think." NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says the issue is not self- defence, but whether the public can trust Harper's statements and assurances about the mission. " The prime minister gave intentionally misleading answers," said Mulcair. " Canadians want to know why their prime minister, on something this important, did not tell the truth to Canadians." The Liberals also attempted to drive a wedge between Harper and Defence Minister Rob Nicholson over the question of whether special forces were required from the outset to accompany Kurdish fighters to the front. - The Canadian Press Canadians OK with killing Islamic State fighters: PM By Murray Brewster BOSTON - Its winds howling at more than 110 kilometres per hour, the Blizzard of 2015 slammed Boston and surrounding parts of New England on Tuesday with none of the mercy it unexpectedly showed New York City, piling up more than half a metre of snow. The storm punched out a section of a seawall in Marshfield, Mass., badly damaging a vacant home. In Newport, R. I., it toppled a replica of a Revolutionary War vessel in dry dock, breaking its mast and puncturing its hull. The blizzard's force stunned even winter- hardened New Englanders. The Philadelphia- to- Boston corridor of more than 35 million people had braced for a paralyzing blast Monday evening and into Tuesday after forecasters warned of a storm of potentially historic proportions. The weather lived up to its billing in New England and on New York's Long Island, which also got clobbered. In the New York City area, the snowfall wasn't all that bad, falling short of 300 centimetres. By Tuesday morning, buses and subways were starting to run again, and driving bans there and in New Jersey had been lifted. The glancing blow left forecasters apologizing and politicians defending their near- total shutdown on travel. - The Associated Press H ALIFAX - While people across the Maritimes hunkered down during Tuesday's powerful winter storm, Helen and Barry Gibb took in the snowy scenery on the mostly deserted streets of downtown Halifax. Bundled up in hats and scarves, the couple from Liverpool, N. S., were trapped in the city by the storm and decided to get some exercise, so they braved the stiff winds and heavy snow. " We're roughing it at the Prince George ( Hotel)," Helen Gibb said with a laugh. " We're stranded. The roads were going to be too bad, so we went for a walk. It's beautiful. Nothing's open, but it's beautiful. The city looks so pretty, and it's so quiet." Tuesday's blizzard cancelled flights and closed schools, government offices and universities throughout the Maritimes as it moved north after having a similar impact on the eastern U. S. Environment Canada issued blizzard warnings for Prince Edward Island, southeastern New Brunswick and most of Nova Scotia, along with a mix of freezing rain, wind and snowfall warnings for Newfoundland. It said the highest wind gusts were recorded at 125 kilometres per hour in southwestern Nova Scotia and Moncton, N. B., got the most snow, with 30 centimetres late in the afternoon as the snowfall tapered off. Meteorologist Linda Libby said she doesn't expect the system to move out of the area completely until this evening. " It's a big storm," she said. Officials throughout the region urged people not to drive, warning of nearzero visibility caused by wind gusts. Some cities took their buses off the road and Highway 104, the four- lane link between Truro in Nova Scotia and the New Brunswick border, was closed to traffic for a few hours. The private company responsible for operating the Trans- Canada Highway between Fredericton and Moncton also advised drivers to stay off the road, with visibility limited to 30 or 40 metres in places. - The Canadian Press Storm shutters Maritimes Boston area hit hard by blizzard, NYC lucks out ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS A blizzard closed schools and cancelled flights in Halifax on Tuesday after passing through the eastern United States. A_ 10_ Jan- 28- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A10 1/ 27/ 15 10: 06: 25 PM ;