XPost: ont.general, ab.general, can.politics   
      
   >> On Jun 16, 5:49 pm, Canuck57  wrote:   
   >>> Looks like Iggy and Laytoon are holding up a bill that could keep Karla   
   >>> Homolka from getting a pardon for the murdering kids.   
      
      
   Looks like Canuck has made an ass of himself again.  And the bloody   
   pro-roguing government   
   of Stephen Harper are suddenly 'in a hurry' to get a Bill passed.   
   ____________________________________   
      
   Parties strike deal to prevent Homolka pardon   
      
   June 16, 2010   
      
   OTTAWA-Federal political parties have joined forces to ensure notorious sex   
   killer Karla   
   Homolka won't be pardoned for her gruesome crimes.   
      
   The four parties struck an 11th-hour deal Wednesday to hive off measures in a   
   pardon-reform bill that would effectively ban Homolka from receiving a pardon.   
      
   The measures are to be passed at all stages by the end of the day Thursday,   
   when the House   
   of Commons is expected to adjourn for the summer.   
      
   The Senate, which will sit several weeks longer, must also pass the bill   
   before it can go   
   into effect.   
      
   Other more contentious provisions of the bill will proceed at a more leisurely   
   pace when   
   Parliament resumes in late September.   
   Homolka, who served a 12-year sentence for her role in the rape-murders of   
   Ontario teens   
   Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, is eligible to apply for a pardon as of   
   July 4.   
      
   "My family is forced to relive the pain and horror every time that woman's   
   name is in the   
   news. A pardon would be unthinkable," said Talin French-Doyle, one of Kristen   
   French's   
   relatives, in a press release. "Forgiveness is the right of a victim, not a   
   requirement of   
   the state."   
      
   There is no confirmation that Homolka actually plans to apply for a pardon.   
   But the   
   theoretical prospect led to an ugly round of finger-pointing Wednesday among   
   the four   
   parties over who would be held responsible if the pardon reform bill isn't   
   passed in time   
   to prevent a possible Homolka pardon.   
      
   With no party wanting to take the blame, a deal seemed inevitable despite the   
   overheated   
   rhetoric.   
      
   Public Safety Minister Vic Toews confirmed late in the day that a deal had   
   been struck.   
      
   "On the critical area of our bill so as to prevent notorious criminals from   
   receiving a   
   pardon, we have an agreement," Toews said.   
   As to Homolka, he added: "That kind of a person would not be able to get a   
   pardon."   
      
   Toews would not go into detail but sources said the parties have agreed to   
   essentially   
   split the original bill in two.   
   Under the provisions that will pass immediately, anyone convicted of a serious   
   personal   
   injury offence - including manslaughter, violent assault and sexual assault -   
   will have to   
   wait 10 years after release from prison before applying for a pardon.   
   Currently, they must   
   wait three to five years.   
      
   Moreover, the National Parole Board, which now rubberstamps most pardon   
   applications, will   
   be given the discretion to deny a pardon if it would severely damage the   
   reputation of the   
   justice system.   
      
   The latter provision is meant to ban someone like Homolka from receiving a   
   pardon.   
      
   Provisions that will wait until the fall to proceed include a proposed ban on   
   pardons for   
   anyone convicted of three indictable offences. Opposition parties are   
   concerned that goes   
   too far, potentially denying a pardon to someone who may have committed   
   relatively minor   
   offences in their youth, such as forging several cheques.   
      
   Earlier Wednesday, Toews and his fellow Conservatives used the spectre of a   
   Homolka pardon   
   to try stampede the three opposition parties into speedily passing the entire   
   pardon-reform bill.   
      
   "Enough games from the opposition," Toews declared at one point in the   
   Commons. "We are   
   committed to preventing the pardoning of notorious criminals now. Why will the   
   Liberals   
   not support us?"   
      
   However, the opposition parties steadfastly refused to expedite passage of the   
   bill in its   
   entirety. They accused the government of deliberately delaying the bill -   
   which was   
   introduced a month ago and has made little legislative progress since - to   
   create a   
   last-minute crisis.   
      
   "It's their fault, not ours," said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.   
      
   NDP Leader Jack Layton said the government deliberately waited until the dying   
   seconds of   
   the parliamentary sitting in a bid to "prevent debate on all the other items   
   that are in   
   (the bill) and perhaps pin it on this situation regarding Karla Homolka."   
      
   Liberal MP and public safety critic Mark Holland was furious that Toews   
   taunted him about   
   supporting a pardon for Homolka - only minutes before the two men were   
   scheduled to meet   
   to discuss ways to split the bill precisely so as to prevent a Homolka pardon.   
      
   "The level of dishonesty is so disgusting," Holland fumed.   
      
   "Do these people have no bottom? Do they have no low to which they will not   
   go?"   
   ___________________________________   
      
   No, they don't.  Get rid of them by forming an alliance with the NDP and give   
   us a   
   coalition government we CAN live with.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)