September 17, 2009
Regional MPs keen on white-collar crime bill
Prince George Citizen
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 7
BYLINE: Rodney Venis
High-profile cases of Ponzi schemes and other financial chicanery are behind the recent Conservative push for tougher white-collar crime legislation.
On Tuesday, federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced a suit of new measures to deal with business fraudsters, including minimum jail terms, longer sentences and the seizure of assets. The proposed laws come after a spate of financial horror stories in the U.S. and Canada that runs the gamut from Bernie Madoff to Conrad Black to Earl Jones to the news out of Alberta of an alleged $400-million Ponzi scheme.
“We read out it in the paper, we see it in the media once a week it seems and we pray to God it doesn’t happen to us,” said Dick Harris, MP for Cariboo-Prince George. “The fact is we’ve seen an explosion of white-collar crime in the last four or five years.”
Harris’ colleague, Jay Hill, MP for Prince George-Peace River and the Conservatives’ House leader, said the government hoped to introduce the legislation in a couple of weeks. He said the Tories had tried to beef up Canada’s white-collar laws – which he described as too lenient – but the Opposition parties, led by the Liberals, hobbled the legislation.
Nathan Cullen, NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, said his party would be examining the bill to “make sure it does what it’s hyped to do” but said the Conservatives fixation with “common” crime comes at the cost of white-collar crime.
“There’s a reason corporate criminals get busted in the U.S. – because our laws are weak.”
There is also some question about whether the new laws will be backed by policing resources.
“Tougher laws without anyone catching the crooks means absolutely nothing,” said Cullen.
