Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The NDP follows up on the Tony Clement G8 scandal by pointing out the connection between his pork-barrelling and the 2008 federal election (which, let's not forget, was called at the Cons' behest):

The NDP is accusing federal Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement of using a controversial, $50-million G8 legacy fund to buy re-election, prompting a heated denial from the government.

Municipal documents obtained by the New Democrats show Clement met with local mayors and councillors in the midst of the 2008 election campaign. They discussed how to identify projects that could be eligible for the legacy funding.

Twelve days after that meeting, a local news outlet reported that Clement had posted video endorsements from "local townspeople, mayors and council members" on his campaign website.

"It gave him a major advantage over the other candidates," New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said in an interview Thursday.

"I think the question has to be asked: Was this a $50 million price of an election?"

- But then, the Cons have obviously lost touch with any sense that public money should be used for anything other than to fulfill their political whims - as Kate Heartfield points out when it comes to their dumb-on-crime policy.

- Meanwhile, the Calgary Herald slams the Cons for eliminating any actual judgment and discretion from the criminal justice system:

The Canadian Bar Association passed a number of worthy recommendations at its recent annual conference that Justice Minister Rob Nicholson should take time to consider.

They include a measure asking that a "safety valve" be brought in with mandatory sentences, which would give judges an ability to deviate from the legislation in rare circumstances where they feel the sentence would cause an injustice.
...
(O)ne size fits all does not work in sentencing. We just have to look to the U.S. for numerous examples of what can happen in the extreme. Under California's three-strikes law, a man with a record of two felony convictions for burglary, was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life, after getting caught at a pro shop trying to steal three golf clubs. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that ruling. In another case a man whose third offence was stealing Batman and Cinderella videos from a department store, was sentenced to a minimum of 50 years in prison.

These are not hardcore criminals and it is not in society's best interest to treat them as such.

- Finally, talk about this fall's Saskatchewan election is starting to heat up, if only in highly general terms so far. Both Three Hundred Eight and the Numbers Guy have posted overviews of what to expect - albeit with little discussion of the factors that figure to influence the race. And a new Saskatchewan General Election blog has also launched which should hopefully serve a useful aggregator for election news (as well as a reminder of the unreliability of non-random online polls).