Canada Won't Intervene in U.S. Death Penalty Cases

(Ottawa, Canada) Boy, the leftists are puckered about this news.

The Conservative government's announcement that it will no longer stand up for Canadians who face the death penalty in the United States is drawing fire from the opposition.

The Tories officially announced a change in Canada's foreign policy when it comes to Canadians on death row.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said his government will not plead for the life of Alberta-born Ronald Allen Smith, who faces lethal injection in Montana for the 1982 murder of two men.

"We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law," Day told the House of Commons yesterday.

"It would send a wrong message. We want to preserve public safety here in Canada."

Canada has not had a state-sanctioned execution since 1962, and the federal government has habitually opposed the death penalty abroad in cases involving Canadians.

Having simply assumed that Canada's policy would continue, employees at Foreign Affairs indicated last week that they would seek to have Smith's sentence commuted.

But they were publicly corrected by their new political bosses yesterday.

Some Canadians fear that this action will renew debate on the country's own stance regarding the death penalty.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.