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Wear a Mask During a Protest In Canada: 10 Years In Jail
Phrogman writes "The Conservative government of Steven Harper in Canada has proposed a new bill that would impose a jail term of 10 years for anyone wearing a mask while 'participating in a riot or unlawful assembly.' The conservative backbencher who proposed the bill makes it clear that he intended it to allow police to arrest anyone wearing a mask 'before protests spiral out of control.' Since this is the same government that arrested hundreds of protesters during the G8/G20 summit using a law that didn't actually exist, it raises the question as to how they will define 'unlawful.' The 10-year penalty is more than double the penalty awarded to a person who murdered someone in a fit of 'road-rage' recently."
1. It is not Harper proposing the bill it ias a Conservative backbencher. I think it is funny that when Harper controls caucus he is "acting. like a dictator" but when he does not "he is not leading as he should".
2. The ten years is tha maximum sentence for the mask offence. Someone convicted of this new crime could get no time at all. The article referenced the read rage conviction in Langly BC where the sentence was 5 years six months. The defendant was convicted of criminal negligence causing death which has a maximum penalty of life in prison. Comparing a sentence for one crime with the maximum sentence for another is not valid. The valid comparison is 10 years for the mask law and life for manslaughter.
3. Masks are being used more and more by agitators, anarchist and thugs who have no interest in the protest. They are there just to have a good time smashing things and injuring police. There needs to be a way of dealing with these people. Is a mask law a good way? Maybe, maybe not. What it hopefully does is spark the debate on the difference between protesting for a cause and rioting for fun.