VICTORIA — Attorney General Murray Rankin came under fire from the B.C. Liberals this week over the damning findings in a government report on repeat offenders and random street violence.
Rankin ended up conceding that the Opposition had a point, but only after he exhausted all other available lines of defence.
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He began by disputing Liberal insinuations that the New Democrats were neglecting the problem out of a lack of sympathy for the victims.
“That’s obviously wrong,” Rankin assured the legislature during question period Tuesday. “We care deeply.”
At the same time, he accused the Opposition of exaggerating the problem with its catch-and-release rhetoric.
“To use clichés such as catch-and-release is simply not doing justice to the complexity and the severity of the problem,” protested Rankin.
That line of defence echoes one of Rankin’s first statements on taking over as attorney general when David Eby resigned from cabinet to seek the NDP leadership.
“Anecdotal fear rhetoric is not evidence of an increase in crime,” said Rankin in a July 22 social media posting aimed directly at Opposition leader Kevin Falcon, who’d highlighted some recent attacks.
The posting was soon deleted from Rankin’s Twitter account, presumably because people being attacked in the streets would scarcely consider themselves to be the victims of “anecdotes.”
Besides, the report from researchers Doug LePard and Amanda Butler thoroughly discredited government attempts to play down the rise in violent crime from repeat offenders and random attacks.
Rankin stumbled again in suggesting that the public actually supports a light touch in dealing repeat offenders.
“I do not think that the people of B.C. believe that arresting and enforcing the law is the way to go,” he declared.
Really? I doubt even the smuggest members of the government would be prepared to test that claim in a snap election.
Next, Rankin fell back on another familiar NDP line, namely that Ottawa is to blame for the problem.
“I intend to go next week to meet my federal counterpart, Justice Minister David Lametti, bring the report to him and talk about concrete ways we can ensure that the Criminal Code and the bail provisions work in our province,” the attorney general advised the house.
Good luck with that.
Back in June, then attorney general Eby provided federal public safety minister Marco Mendicino with the report of the provincial-government-ordered inquiry into money laundering.
The report thoroughly documented areas where the federal government could and should increase resources and toughen enforcement.
But Ottawa is not known to welcome provincial advice on how to run its affairs.
If there’s been any substantive response from Mendicino in the past four months, the New Democrats have yet to make it public.
Increasingly desperate, Rankin tried arguing that the problem was inherited from the Liberals.
“The former government chose to abolish a very successful program called the repeat offender management pilot program,” he reminded the house.
Right. The decision taken a decade ago to not renew a $120,000 pilot program is to blame for the current crisis.
Then, having exhausted all of the familiar lines of defence, Rankin adopted a novel comeback for a member of the John Horgan cabinet.
It happened when Liberal MLA Mike de Jong drew attention to how the report documents public concern about safe streets.
“One of the fundamental responsibilities of governing is to keep people safe,” said de Jong. “People don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe in Abbotsford. They don’t feel safe in Terrace. They don’t feel safe in Kelowna. They don’t feel safe in Victoria.”
“I agree with him entirely,” replied Rankin. “People in our communities, all around the province, urban and rural, deserve to feel safe in their communities. That is the government’s responsibility. We accept that entirely.”
Back came de Jong, highlighting the attorney-general’s power to do something, as identified in the report.
The Criminal Code provides for the detention of repeat offenders who violate bail conditions. There are also precedents for directives to Crown prosecutors to seek detention of violent and repeat offenders in the public interest.
“One of the options available to the attorney general is to issue specific directive to prosecutors across B.C.,” said De Jong, himself a former attorney general.
“The question to the attorney general today: Will he assure the house that he will issue the directives necessary to begin the process of making people feel safe?”
Rankin replied by again conceding the point: “I accept that there are people for whom jail is the only answer.
“The member is asking if we seek to excuse criminal behaviour — of course we don’t.”
As for de Jong’s specific question, Rankin agreed that the attorney-general can issue directives to prosecutors.
“He’s asking me today if we’re going to do that. I will examine that and all opportunities to see if that would make a difference.”
By question period standards, that’s a case of a minister meeting his critic more than halfway.
A rare concession from this government.
But I expect it confirms what the New Democrats’ own supporters are telling them about the need for action on repeat offenders and random attacks.
vpalmer@postmedia.com