…and Boisvenu makes three.

First, Julian Fantino writes about his love of the death penalty in his book.

Then PM Harper talks about his support for the government having the ability to kill Canadians in an interview last year.

On Wednesday it was reported that Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu suggested that prisoners should be given a rope so they can kill themselves. He initially apologized but then on Thursday he decided to double down and claim that his idea is getting a lot of support. This seems to negate his claim (one that Mr. Fantino and PM Harper have also made) that he doesn’t want to re-open the death penalty debate in Canada.

I realize that I will never be able to understand the pain and grief that Senator Boisvenu and his family have been through. However, his remarks illustrate exactly why the death penalty is a policy of vengeance and why we abolished it in the first place. Senator Boisvenu justified his macabre idea by saying that it would save money. This was what I found most repugnant about Boisvenu’s statements. The idea that the government should encourage Canadian citizens to kill themselves so that taxpayers can save money is reprehensible.

From now on when someone in the Harper government ends a statement with “I don’t want to start a debate” we should all pay extra close attention to their previous statement.