Nash condemns disastrous crime bills

Winnipeg Free Press:

Manitoba’s NDP might support them, but federal leadership candidate Peggy Nash says she’d reconsider a batch of get-tough-on-crime bills now working its way through Parliament.

Nash, seen by many as a possible consensus candidate in the crowded race to lead the federal NDP, was in Winnipeg Tuesday drumming up votes.

Asked about her approach to Winnipeg’s crime problem, Nash said she favours prevention programs and reducing poverty and inequality as a root cause of crime.

She said similar anti-crime measures in the United States, including mandatory minimums, have been criticized as ineffective.

"You see even Republicans in the States saying it costs too much and it’s led to an increase in crime," she said.

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