The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Maybe it's not really "Friendly" Manitoba after all. Statistics Canada information released last week confirmed that Manitoba was the nation's violent crime capital last year. The agency's data on police-reported crime in 2010 revealed that Manitoba had Canada's highest levels of violent crime, the highest murder rate and the highest sexual assault rate. It also had the highest robbery and youth violent crime rates. The opposition Progressive Conservatives immediately pounced on the findings, claiming that they illustrate how the NDP has failed to combat crime. "The NDP's soft-on-crime approach has been a dismal failure and these numbers are the proof," said Kelvin Goertzen, the party's justice critic. "Thanks to the NDP, Manitoba is the violent crime capital of Canada Ð again. It's been eleven years of NDP government, and 11 years of violent crime growing out of control. Criminals know that Manitoba is the place to be, and that has to stop." Goertzen charged that the NDP has deleted warrants, given slurpees to young offenders and welfare to criminals on the run, accidentally released prisoners and sat on federal funding that should have been used to hire more police officers. The NDP responded by accusing the PCs of "making jokes about crime." The party was referring to PC candidates and supporters who dressed up as jailbirds last week to hand out campaign materials to Winnipeggers. "Crime is no laughing matter," said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Andrew Swan. "Manitobans expect leadership and practical solutions to tackle crime and keep our neighbourhoods safe. They don't want to see (PC leader) Hugh McFadyen's candidates making light of the crimes that have affected some Manitoba families. "Instead of proposing real solutions to deal with crime, Mr. McFadyen continues to blame everyone but the criminals, while laughing his way along." The NDP defended its record on crime, saying it has hired 58 new prosecutors and 261 new cops. Swan said the party will continue to make such investments and put supports in place that arm police with the tools they need to put criminals behind bars. Ð Compiled from Manitoba PC Party and Manitoba NDP Caucus news releases.
