CRIMINAL OFFENCES MORE THAN DOUBLE - NUMBER OF POLICE OFFICERS STILL DROPPING

"Liberals simply aren’t using their heads when it comes to fighting crime."

Ottawa – Today in the House of Commons, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, challenged government to explain why they have let the number of police officers drop every year since they have been in power. "In 1970, there were 29.3 criminal incidents per police officer. By 1997, this had increased to 46.2 criminal incidents per police officer and this doesn’t include Criminal Code traffic incidents," reported Breitkreuz. "The simple fact is that government has failed in its primary responsibility to protect the public. The government has failed to keep the number of police officers in balance with rising crime rates and population increases." Here’s the exchange as it went in the House today:

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz, (Yorkton-Melville, Ref.): "The Liberals have earmarked millions more in next year’s budget to implement new gun-control laws. Taxpayers can add these millions to the $200 million already spent on the government’s gun registration scheme. The government said it would only cost $85 million over five years. Would the Minister of Justice please explain to taxpayers how her department could have bungled things so badly?"

Ms. Elene Bakopanos (Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.): "Mr. Speaker, no one has bungled anything. In fact, the gun registration system is working very effectively. Canadians are respecting the law. It is only the opposition who does not want to respect the law of the land."

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz, (Yorkton-Melville, Ref.): "Talk about being misled, Mr. Speaker. While this Minister wastes hundreds of millions on this totally useless project, Statistics Canada recently reported that the number of police officers per capita has dropped for seven consecutive years. In 1998 there were fewer police officers per capita than in 1970. Meanwhile the number of criminal incidents has more than doubled since 1970. Why did the Liberals blow hundreds of millions on a gun registration scheme when millions are needed to put an adequate number of police officers on our streets and highways to fight this dramatic increase in crime?"

Ms. Bakopanos ignored this question too, and basically repeated her earlier answer.

"Now Canadians can see why it’s called Question Period and not Answer Period. The government Ministers would rather play politics than improve public safety," said Breitkreuz. "The government has been deceiving the people about the gun registry since 1994. Eventually, the public will see through the charade and demand that the government spend their tax dollars where they will do the most good. Gun registration won’t stop home invasions but more police patrols will. Gun registration won’t stop biker gangs and organized crime but more police investigators will. Gun registration won’t stop drug smuggling but more border guards will," declared Breitkreuz. "Reformers will continue to hold the government fully responsible for any deterioration in public safety that results from their overspending on misplaced criminal justice priorities."

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The Office of Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.