Thread by @paulgknox

🧵> Reporters, reporters, I’m begging you: Don’t do this. Never get into a pissing match with a skunk. The skunk has a deadlier weapon, and you spend the rest of your day trying to smell like a human again. ->

<- Don’t allow guys like #Poilievre to draw you into an argument in scrums and newsers.

The moment you do, you’re an unpaid actor in his endless morality soap.

He’s the shining knight, saving the fair country from the evil du jour. You’re the dunce. ->

<- He has all the cards: the podium, the props, the red-meat message he wants to throw his audience, the carefully honed script, the well-researched talking points.

You aren’t even on camera. ->

<- Of all things to attempt in this situation, a “society is to blame” argument is the least likely to produce anything useful. People write books about that. You have 30 seconds, and we know what his answer will be.

You do have a couple of options. ->

<- You can add to what we already know by seeing how far he’ll go.

A question we all have right now is why PP doesn’t seem to care about broadening his appeal - in this case, beyond people who want to lock up anyone even implicated in crimes, and throw away the key. ->

<- Bad things happen to people in prison. People get sick, both physically and mentally. They can be harmed by staff or other prisoners.

They can be introduced to drugs. They can lose hope for a future that doesn’t include violence and life on the margins. ->

<- The longer people spend behind bars, the more likely they are to reduce their life to a range of illegal activities. Women prisoners may bear a different burden: retaining hope for their children and making sure they’re cared for.

All true whether they’re guilty or not. ->

<- People denied bail spend months in jail, maybe more than a year, before their cases come to trial. In the end they may be found not guilty. Charges can be stayed because police or prosecutors screwed up. That time in jail can easily mess up their lives, and then what? ->

<- Anyone arguing for tougher bail laws ought to also address the effect of jail on prisoners awaiting trial. Improve conditions. Provide support & protection for families. Appoint more judges for speedier trials.

Would PP do any of that? Or is it just about getting even? ->

<- Another question for #PierrePoilievre: White-collar crime. Alleged fraudsters, bribers, embezzlers nearly always get bail. Maybe with passports seized, but still. Rich kids who drove their Porsches drunk & killed people - bail.

Would PP support class-neutral bail rules? ->

<- A strong argument for tougher conditions is that senior crime-ring members granted bail are free to hunt down & kill suspected informers or their family members. Often the feuds are about drug sales. With decrim, safe supply & harm reduction, drug profits would plummet. ->

<- So much incarceration revolves around drugs & drug-related crime. Safe supply and harm reduction, which Poilievre opposes, would make illegal drugs less lucrative & less dangerous.

Will he change his position on safe supply and harm reduction to resolve this contradiction? ->

<- Reporters doing their research will find better ways of showing what PP is all about.

But please, fellow journalists, stop getting roped in to his rodeo. You ride the bull for eight seconds. Then you get tossed in the dirt. ||| 🧵

#cdnmedia #cdnpoli #canadacrime #prisoners

@threadreaderapp pls compile