Editor:
I’ve just finished reading readers’ comments in the April 17 issue of the Peace Arch News.
Canadians of all persuasions, including MP Gordie Hogg, are lost (in my opinion) in a myriad of “he said-she said,” and partisan posturing in the controversy surrounding SNC-Lavalin, while missing the real issue underpinning the discourse.
That is the fact that the establishment of the Deferred Prosecution (DP) legislation (with apparent support of all parties) has introduced a new dimension to Canadian society which inevitably irreversibly alters the future for all of us.
This principle is the introduction of political influence in our criminal justice system. While the law has yet to be used, all of the current controversy centres around the non-use of this law.
Explicitly stated, the DP provisions are the thin edge of increased government influence in both the criminal process and in Canadian business. As an example of this, the United State’s use of their similar legislation has ballooned since 1999.
Taken to an extreme, we have a living example in the Chinese Communist Party and its view of state-run capitalism. I am not arguing for or against such a system in this monologue, but just for an open and active dialogue on the direction we wish to go as Canadians.
The upcoming election platform and subsequent debates may be the proper place to ask the Canadian people what direction they wish the future to take, stripped of all the distractions that have clouded this very important issue to date.
Eric Ross, White Rock
