A Commentary by Doug Draper
“Cling, Clang. Cling Clang. …
That’s the sound of the men
working on the chain gang.”
– from the old Sam Cooke song, Chain Gang
Get used to the idea folks. If Niagara native and Conservative leader Tim Hudak becomes the next premier of Ontario, driving along a road or highway and watching prisoners dressed up in stripped pajamas and ankle chains as they clearing garbage or picking up garbage along the side of the road may become routine.
A chain gang in George, vintage 1941. Tim Hudak promises to bring them to Ontario if he become premier in 2011
You may even see them cutting grass in our public parks, the way the Conservative leader describes it.
It’s probably no big deal if you’ve spent a lot of time driving the roads way down in the deep south in Georgia or Alabama or Mississippi. You’ll be gong along and there they are, wearing stripped suits and ankle bracelets, clearing up the scrub and the daddy from Slaphole, Mississippi drives by with his son in the car and says; “Lookie der boy. Dat’s what you get if you lifts a can of tuna from the Piggly Wiggly.”
Now Tim Hudak is pledging to import that culture to Ontario, and isn’t it a good thing! Isn’t it? After all, and as he imagines, every day spent in a prison in this province is like a day’s vacation at the Quality Inn, with yoga, writing classes, high-definition TV and all other sorts of fun.
That’s the way our Tim more or less told it this May 26 in a media announcement where he vows, if he becomes premier, to make prisoners in provincial jails do the chain-gang thing, raking leaves, cleaning graffiti and so on.
“By putting criminals to work, the taxpayers dollars that used to be spent for that work would be spent on law-abiding citizens and benefits that matter to all of us, like health care,” Hudak said in a statement this May 26. “And I’m not asking prisoners to do anything more than what hard-working Ontario families do each and every day — and that is, go to work.”
Sounds appealing doesn’t it?. Wouldn’t you like to be driving by and seeing Paul Bernardo or Karla Homolka (if the justice system could have kept her in jail in the murderous crimes she was involved in) out picking up trash too many of the rest of us toss out the window along Hwy. 406, etc.
Problem is that it won’t be Paul Bernardo or any other high-profile crook. And it certainly won’t be anyone involved in pocketing about a billion of dollars of our tax money in the e-Health scandal, or the infamous Dr. Smith who, acting in the role of a coroner, entered evidence in Ontario courts that destroyed the lives of several families in this province. Nor will it be the disgusting likes of Eleanor Clitheroe, the former Ontario Hydro One head appointed by a former Conservative government of Mike Harris of which Tim Hudak was an enthusiastic member. Clitheroe, who pigged out at the job at the time as if there was no end to the money she could siphon from our pockets, is still collecting $25,000 a month, years after she was dumped from that position. Yet she has had the nerve to sue for more and there is no disgust expressed by Tim Hudak and company on that one.
Why isn’t Hudak asking for Clitheroe to be charged and possibly reduced to a chain gang? I could almost stomach the idea of chain gangs in Ontario if I thought I could pass this greedy cow serving on one. I’d stomach it even more if I could watch Conrad Black imported back to Canada and picking up trash in one of our public parks while wearing a stripped suit with a number on his back.
And if we are going to be the first province in Canada that moves to chain gangs, why stop there? Why not bring back public hangings and make them mandatory viewing for the whole family during one of the breaks during an NHL hockey game. Make our kids watch them, and go to school and write an essay on what they learned from the event. Cut off the hand of someone who stole some dog food from the shelf of a big box store and play that in prime time too.
Let’s see the whole thing on the tube – loop it so we get to see it over and over again – or what would the deterent effect be. If you want to deter crime, you need to see some bloody revenge, don’t you? If not, what is the point! Why stop at the casual possibility of passing a chain gain in one of our parks or along the QEW or Hwy. 406. Let’s go for it. Why not cut off the hand of someone who steals a couple of cans of dog food or whatever, just to teach them a lesson. It seems to work in Iran!
Show that on TV too. I would almost bet that in this sick culture, too many of us would be recording it and playing it over and over again. Maybe Tim Hudak is on to something here.
By the way, it is the Howard John Society of Canada that goes into the jails and tries to do something constructive for prisoners, like offer writing and yoga sessions, so they might come out better people than they were when they went in. So never mind McGuinty coddling criminals. Maybe Tim ought to ban this group and have them thrown in the clink for a while, just to show them where it is at. I’m sure there are enough of the angry and fearful Ontarians out there who would not mind if he did.
(We encourage your comments on this issue and visit Niagara At Large at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater Niagara region and beyond.)
Niagara At Large 
Hey, why not pay our 10% unemployed to do that? The law-abiding citizens are hurting in this dismal job market. Perhaps they could supplement their meager welfare or unemployment benefits by getting out and cleaning up trash. Why should the inmates benefit? How much iins it costinf the taxpayers to fund this great leap back in time? Child workers? Sure. Get those brats off the streets after school.
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Be kind to Tim,,,he obviously will need free labour to build the mid peninsula highway and is just planning ahead how to afford it.
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Conservatives like to talk about health care, but their style is privatised with many, many tiers . Poor unhealthy folk will be left by the road and at the curb, without having committed crimes. They also like to talk about tax cuts, but they leave out “details” about how everyone will PAY for those cuts.
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Paul Martin Cut, Cut, Cut, and then Cut again to get a surplus all the while giving tax breaks to two or three percent of the wealthiest Canadians. Then not to be over shadowed Mike Harris who pledged never to cut Health Care began his systematic gutting of the Province”s sacred safety nets, Hospitals, the VON, the NHS and the beat goes on while doing this he cut taxes for those same two or three percent of the wealthiest Ontario citizens. NOW it is scarey to think what this “Nero” and his pack of ex Mike Harris thugs will do… next???????????????? Remember Hudak was a charter member of the Harris and Fraser Institute bum boys
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Well I said that when Harper got a majority government we would be going backwards into the 50’s and guess what if Hudak gets in we are really going to be way back in time. If I remember right my address is in Ontario not Mississippi and we do have human rights even for the criminals.
Well maybe all of the corrupt politicians should be the first to sign up for the job and save us the time and money to put them there.
I don’t have a problem with our folks on social services that are able to work, doing this kind of job and being paid a reasonable wage to supplement the low benefits that they receive, but put the healthy ones to work not the sick ones on disability. If they where paid minumum wage plus their benefits, I think in some cases we would be ahead of the game, as they would then begin to take pride in themselves and their families will not have to live with the stigma of being WELFARE BUMS!
Where was Tim Hudak when all of this went down with our health system, sitting in a back room figuring out how he could benefit from this in the next election. Well Mr. Hudak Look out for Ms. Andrea Horvath, because I think she is going to take a big bite out of your butt!!!
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So after reading your column, my understanding is that everyone in the American south is an uneducated moron, or that everyone in jail only was guilty of stealing tuna cans….
Putting criminals to work is not a bad idea, whether it be first-time offenders, the horrendous sort like Bernardo or white-collar crooks like Conrad Black. Just because someone on the right of the spectrum came up with the idea does not make it inherently “evil.”
And comparing chain gangs to public executions is just plain silly.
These people are behind bars for a reason and anything we can do to help them contribute to society is a step in the right direction.
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My view may not be popular but I see no harm in making non violent prisoners do some community work. Many career petty thieves, etc. seem to think others’ possessions are free for the taking and their properties free to vandalize. They have never learned the simple lesson that the people who they violate actually worked for what they have. Perhaps learning a work ethic and seeing that work gets some results wouldn’t hurt them.
I do think some prisons can be too cushy in relation to the crimes and some inmates have it better than they did beforehand, three squares and a bed. I know of people who found it quite funny that their incarcerated loved ones got dental care that they couldn’t have afforded on the outside.
Of course integrating convicts back into society is important but learning responsibility is no less important. Even a child should be aware that unacceptable behaviour has consequences. Many inmates never learned this due to disfunctional backgrounds or because of sheer arrogance thinking they could trample the rights of others. Their work can be compensated BUT that compensation should then go directly to their victims so they appreciate the loss caused by what they did. The criminals can thus be made to pay back their victims and society in general.
As for violent criminals, they should stay on the inside but do labour there.
People like Bernardo, Olson, Williams and Homolka who are absolutely proven guilty of heinous crimes should receive the death penalty. Why keep them? They are of no use and should NEVER be free.
Politicians love to jump on the crime bandwagon because it appeals to the voters’ sense of justice and fear of crime and is just one of the many fears politicians use to control us. If we fear something we support someone who can control that which we fear. That is not enough to make me vote for Hudak.
Prison should be both a punishment and a learning experience, not one or the other.
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But the really sad part is that this will attract a lot of votes just like his mentor, Mike Harris, did when he attcked the poor people by reducing the welfare payments. It is very sad how our society is becoming so mean and un-caring…
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OMG what nonsense – if we put prisoners to work whatever work it is – the world will come to an end – suck it up people !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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We have to work for our keep but somehow it is beneath the dignity of a criminal to work for his or her keep?????????? What utter nonsense. Maybe we should just all go on the dole.
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Of course people who break the law should be punished, not coddled and rewarded. But this is the politics of division and meanness. It appeals to our baser instincts and turns us on each other. Meanwhile …
Where are the plans to fix our health care and our education systems? How are we going to secure an affordable, sustainable energy future? Jobs, the environment, food security … the list goes on and on.
No doubt the criminal justice system is in need of an overhaul. But is it an urgent priority? More to the point, is this idea part of a comprehensive reform package, or is it a cynical attempt to divert and manipulate?
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Well said, Randy. People buy into this stuff. Cheap tricks.
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This is the type of simplistic thinking that I am afraid pervades many people. Okay, let’s hire prisoners to do these jobs. What is going to happen to the people we already pay to do these jobs? So, we are going to lengthen the unemployment line? Great idea, Tim.
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