XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   So much for their 'tough on crime' agenda . . .  Judges are against it,   
   the supreme court is against it, and now the prison guards themselves   
   are against it.   
   Nice job, Harper.  You couldn't learn from the American experience,   
   could you?   
   _____________________________________________   
      
   Global News  -  May 26, 2014   
      
   ‘These guys have to get out’: Prison guards union to campaign against   
   Conservatives   
      
      
   OTTAWA – The union representing Canada’s prison guards is gearing up to   
   campaign against the law-and-order Harper government in the next election.   
      
   For the first time in 15 years, the union will urge its 7,500 members to   
   vote ABC – Anything but Conservative.   
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   “These guys have to get out,” said Jason Godin, national vice-president   
   at the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.   
      
   “They’ve done more damage in three years than any government has done in   
   our entire history.”   
      
   Although the union’s constitution forbids the guards from endorsing   
   political parties, Godin said he will be encouraging his members to vote   
   against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2015.   
      
   “We will be actively gearing up to campaign against the Harper   
   government,” he said.   
      
   “We’re going to be going right into their ridings. We’ll be very   
   visible, we’ll be challenging them up front.”   
      
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   The union’s complaints stem from what it claims are increasingly   
   dangerous working conditions such as overcrowding and double-bunking.   
      
   Earlier this month, Auditor General Michael Ferguson reported that some   
   of Canada’s prisons are already operating over-capacity, and a planned   
   expansion will leave them overcrowded again in a few years.   
      
   “We’re reaching crisis proportions in terms of double-bunking, and [the   
   government] just completely ignores all the research,” said Godin.   
      
   The government begs to differ.   
      
   A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney cites statements   
   from CSC Commissioner Don Head saying there is no link between violence   
   and double bunking.   
      
   “Studies show that double-bunking does not have any link to violence. It   
   doesn’t take a social scientist to see that those behind bars for   
   violent crimes may behave violently,” Jean-Christophe de La Rue wrote in   
   an email.   
      
   But the study also found that while double-bunking in the Prairie region   
   more than doubled to 27 per cent in July 2012 from 12 per cent in 2009;   
   incident rates increased by 70 per cent during the same period. It also   
   says that “crowding affects the level of stress experienced by the   
   offender and reduces the availability of programming.”   
      
   The union also takes issue with changes to the Canada Labour Code   
   introduced in last year’s omnibus budget bill.   
      
   The changes shrink the definition of danger to exclude potential hazards   
   and “future activity” and gives more discretion over health and safety   
   to the minister.   
      
   Godin said the government has yet to consult with the union on major   
   changes since becoming a majority in 2011.   
      
   “When they get tough on crime, they get tough on correctional officers,”   
   said Godin.   
      
   “At the same time they’re making our working conditions get more   
   dangerous, they’re gutting the Canada Labour Code, which is the most   
   important piece of protection that we have.”   
      
   Godin said in the long run, it is Canadians who will suffer.   
      
   “In ten years time, Canadians are gonna go, ‘Oh my God what just   
   happened?’ Because all of those people they’re putting in jail, guess   
   what? 80 per cent of them are going to get out.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)