Prison guard union not endorsing Ontario PC chain-gang plan

The union that represents guards at Ontario prisons says it was never consulted about Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s plan to put convicts to work in the community.

Mr. Hudak told reporters Wednesday that he believes correctional officers are in favour of the work program, which would require prisoners to perform manual labour for up to 40 hours a week in exchange for perks in prison. His opponents have derided the plan, calling it a “chain gang” initiative.

Provincial guards like this idea,” Mr. Hudak said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We’re just asking the prisoners to do what every other hard-working Ontarian does – an honest day’s work instead of spending the day working out to become better criminals.”

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The tough on crime strategy is really getting tired. Tom

Walkom: Chain gangs and the Tories' search for scapegoats

Scapegoats are useful political fodder. Former Conservative premier Mike Harris won power by successfully scapegoating the poor. Tim Hudak, the current Ontario Tory leader, hopes to replicate that success by campaigning against prisoners.

How else to explain Hudak’s call for what in effect would be provincial chain gangs?

Let’s be clear. The idea of forcing every provincial inmate to clean up highways or scrub down graffiti is potentially a political winner.

Most people have little sympathy for convicted criminals. In hard times, those who work for a living doubly resent anyone who doesn’t or can’t do the same.

That’s why Harris’s attack on welfare recipients was so successful. He picked his fight with the poor during one of the worst economic slumps since the 1930s.

Hudak, in his announcement Thursday, pressed all the usual buttons. He scoffed at those apocryphal prisoners who spend their time in jail watching high-definition television and learning “Zen yoga.” He said anyone in prison should have to work “just like every hard-working family out there.”

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