Cannabis firm sues shipper
Check your travel medical
New orca rescue attempt
No bail in Ottawa killings 
Banks must say rebate 
Regulating power prices
Iran fires at attack drones 
World's largest election 
2 detained in Volkov attack 
Oil and gas leases restricted
Indigo needs turnaround 
Rates slow green economy
Warriors ready for Round 2
Kalamalka Bowl cancelled
Rockets live to fight on
Hilton teams up with Sia
Swift still 'can't forgive' Kim
Grimes to ‘cap the disarray’
A private members bill that would have extended parole ineligibility for anyone convicted of a heinous crime has been dropped, but a new bill with the same goal is on the horizon.
Okanagan-Shuswap Conservative MP Colin Mayes wanted to see parole ineligibility for acts of sexual assault, abduction and murder extended to 40 years from the current 25.
Mayes said the catalyst for his bill was Marie Van Diest, mother of 18-year-old murder victim Taylor. The man convicted of first-degree murder in the brutal attack, Matthew Foerster, has launched an appeal of that conviction.
Taylor Van Diest was found along some train tracks in Armstrong, about 25 kilometres north of Vernon, on Halloween night in 2011.
“The only thing she (Marie) asked of me is that she would not have to attend a parole hearing in 25 years,” said Mayes.
Parole hearings can be held every two years once the convict is eligible.
“She is a young mother so she could have to go through several hearings,” added Mayes, adding even if parole is not granted, the victim's family still must relive the horror of the loss every 24 months.
Mayes said he supports a proposed new bill that would basically achieve the same results he was seeking.
Mayes said the Life Means Life Act is actually more effective than his proposed bill in keeping perpetrators of heinous crimes behind bars.
Although he is retiring after a decade in Ottawa and will not be able to vote on it, Mayes said there is strong support for the Life Means Life Act, adding it is a high priority for the Conservative party and will be looked at following the fall election.
The act would amend the Criminal Code to make a life sentence without parole mandatory for the following crimes.
- First-degree murder that is planned and deliberate and that involves:
- sexual assault
- kidnapping or forcible confinement
- terrorism
- the killing of police officers or corrections officers
- conduct of a particularly brutal nature
“It takes it out of the judge's hands and that is a good thing,” Mayes said from Ottawa Thursday.
