27 August 2009 Quebec City, Quebec
Prime Minister Stephen Harper met today with victims' rights stakeholders in Quebec City. Also attending the meeting was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Charlesbourg-Haute-Saint-Charles and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, Daniel Petit.
The Prime Minister expressed strong sympathy for Canadians who have seen their savings wiped out by fraud, as well as for the victims of violent crime.
“Our government feels that those committing serious crimes or defrauding honest citizens should serve their sentences behind bars and not in the comfort of their own homes,” declared the Prime Minister. “As far as we're concerned, victims' rights trump those of the criminals. Our government will continue to seek harsher sentences for these types of crime, which have disastrous consequences for their victims.”
The Prime Minister recalled that since his government came to power in February 2006, it has tabled several bills seeking to combat crime in Canada. Unfortunately, the opposition – both in the House of Commons and in the Senate – has too often used obstructionist tactics to prevent their passage.
The Prime Minister assured all those present at the meeting that his government would persevere in its efforts to ensure that victims of violent crime, as well as those who have lost all their savings as a result of fraud, can at long last obtain justice.
