It's been 50 years since the last criminal hangings took place in Canada, and Radclive was the nation's first professional executioner, delivering about 150 final sentences. According to an exclusive QMI Agency poll, our country wishes the end of our rope hadn't been reached in 1962.
Our Leger Marketing public survey -- involving questions on just about every hot-button topic faced in Canada -- has found half the country is now in favour of the death penalty for dangerous offenders.
In fact, only 37% of people now think death for violent offenders is a bad idea.
Just before cop-killers Ron Turpin and Arthur Lucas both swung from the Toronto gallows back in 1962, Lucas was reportedly told they'd likely be the last to be executed in Canada -- which they were. He reportedly replied: "Some consolation."
A majority of Canadians seem to now agree with him.
And so does America's toughest lawman.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio welcomed the Canadian poll results.
He recently lost a deputy to a murder, and over the past two weeks, his state of Arizona has put two killers to death. One of the murderers, Robert Charles Towery, had injected his victim with battery acid.
"Seems Canada is very progressive these days," the sheriff says by phone.
"And it seems people are fed up with crime."
Even as many states look at ending capital punishment, the Arizona sheriff urged the Canadian government to take another serious look at bringing it back.
The debate has only grown stronger. Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu -- whose daughter was murdered -- recently suggested some serial killers might benefit from being given a rope to hang themselves. Though he added, he is against the death penalty.
And last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said there's a time when capital punishment is appropriate, but added he has no plans to bring it back.
Leger pollster Christian Bourque says he's not surprised by the results, though adds he doesn't expect it to add any momentum to calls for the likes of John Radclive to return to work.
"No one wants to open that can of worms," says the executive vice president of Leger Marketing.
His results are among a number over the past year that have found strong support for a return of executions in Canada.
"I think it is sad that 50 years after the last hanging in Canada there are still so many people who would like to have executions back," says Toronto lawyer James Lockyer, a founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. "What is particularly depressing is that for the first time in more than 50 years, we have a prime minister who supports the death penalty.
"Those of us who oppose the death penalty in any form still have a lot to do."
Dealing with the worst criminals is just one of many topics dividing Canadians we talked to for the survey.
Among the wide range of opinions charted in the large QMI Agency commissioned poll -- from support for the legal right to abortion (70% agree) to a favourable view on the Alberta oilsands (56% national support) -- are surprising numbers that indicate our love for the royal family has faded.
When asked about support for showcasing the monarchy in Canada, almost half of the country gave thumbs down while only 29% of respondents approved.
But before anyone storms the castle, pollster Bourque says the monarchy still has grassroots support in Canada.
And Carolyn Harris, a royal authority and teaching fellow at Queen's University in Kingston -- she also runs the popular royalhistorian.com blog -- says the lukewarm numbers may have to do with how the question was asked.
"By phrasing the question with 'showcasing', there are images of taxpayer money being spent ... on pomp and pageantry," she says.
"You might get a very different response if you asked 'Do you hold the Queen or royal family in high regard."
Just as capital punishment is not likely to make a return soon to the political front-burner, Harris says the place of the Queen in Canada's constitutional monarchy is not about to be challenged any time soon.
Original Article
Source: lf press
Author: Thane Burnett
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