Another Harris Myth Debunked

Along with that old chestnut that cutting social assistance will see children starving we had the one that reductions in social assistance would see a generation turning to crime to feed themselves.....

Okay, where did 'Harris' children' go?

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

Despite last weekend's outburst of deadly violence in Toronto, crime so far is significantly down this year.

Homicides stand at 50 compared to 60 at this time in 2005.

Of those 50 homicides, 20 were gun-related, compared to 41 in 2005. There have been 146 shootings, down from 194.

Sexual assaults are down 22.7%, other assaults, 5.7%. Only in areas like robbery and break and enter is crime rising.

That's no reason for rejoicing. People are still dying and gun and gang violence are still unacceptably high. But at least the numbers are down from last year's record gun carnage.

All this begs the question: What's happened to what left-wing politicians, social activists, academics and media pundits referred to last year -- ad nauseam -- as "Mike Harris' children"?

Remember? Last summer, in the middle of Toronto's guns and gangs crisis, you couldn't read a story about the sharp spike in urban street violence without someone blaming it all on former Conservative premier Mike Harris. We were told that Harris' cuts to welfare and the passage of the Safe Schools Act implemented by the Harris/Ernie Eves Conservative government of 1995-2003 led directly to the city's crime wave in 2005.

A year ago, Mayor David Miller said the Safe Schools Act should be renamed "the Unsafe Neighbourhoods Act or the Gang Recruitment Act." Alok Mukherjee, now chairman of the Police Services Board, told the Star the act's policy of mandatory suspensions and expulsions of violent students was "a major contributing factor to the recent rise in youth violence."

Absurd. These theories are based on faulty logic, not supported by facts. Why? Because to believe them, you have to believe "Harris' children" were relatively law-abiding in 2003 and 2004 before going nuts in 2005 and then calming down again in 2006.

In 2003 -- right after eight years of Harris' so-called crime-spawning policies, Ontario had the lowest crime rate in the country. Ditto 2004, when the Toronto area also had the lowest crime rate of any major urban centre in Canada.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Goldstein_Lorrie/2006/09/19/pf-1862150.html