"Coddling thugs"? Hardly

I just love it when people like PMS and Robert Ford say that getting tough on the causes of crime is tantamount to "coddling thugs."

I'll be brief on this one.   Nothwithstanding the uptake in gun violence recently, and my feeling that mandatory minimums for an unlawful discharge of a firearm should be declared constitutional, we still need to get to the root causes of what causes crime as well as fighting it.

If the Dynamic Duo ™ wants to fight crime, here's two suggestions.

First:  Provide funding to fix the "broken windows."   Make vacant lots and buildings where the thugs hang out inaccessible.    There is a risk of gentrification (and with it driving up property values even higher in one of the most expensive cities in the free world), but if people feel their neighbourhood is safer due to "strength in numbers" then the more likely it is that residents will proactively report on potential trouble people before crimes are committed -- and in addition, the likelihood those residents are tempted or coerced into the "Don't Snitch" mentality reactively is substantially reduced.

Second:   Crimestoppers should offer higher rewards than just $2000.   Depending on the gravity of the crime, the reward should be in the range of $5000 to $10,000; even higher in the most serious cases.    Ford and PMS are buddies with most of Bay Street so they can easily persuade them to sponsor such rewards -- it's tax deductible for donors, after all.    When money talks, someone will snitch -- and that will mean one less bad person off the streets.

There should be common ground on the left and the right on how to deal with this serious issue.   For whatever reason, the current powers that be want to be entrenched in their positions without even looking for the consensus.    And that's exactly want the gangs and lone loose cannons want.