Dick Harris - 38th Parliament

38th Parliament

In preparation for the 2004 election Harris was challenged by Williams Lake dentist Elmer Thiessen for the Conservative Party nomination. On the evening of the vote, the nomination committee headed by Dan MacLaren, a declared Theissen supporter, apparently violated Election Canada rules by unilaterally extending the vote count beyond the legal period in order to receive late mail-in ballots. Harris was in the lead before the extension decision was made. After protests, based on Elections Canada rules that all ballots must be in by the time of counting, the party ordered a second ballot take place due to voting irregularities and that constituency association officials purposely restricted voting to Williams Lake only. Harris won on the second ballot by 16 votes. The RCMP launched an investigation into Harris for alleged financial irregularities. The investigation concluded that there was no valid evidence pointing to financial irregularities. Harris went on to win the election in the Cariboo—Prince George riding with 46% of the vote and his party again formed the Official Opposition to the Liberal Party. In the 38th Parliament, Harris, as a member of the opposition, introduced one bill into the House of Commons: Bill C-275 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (failure to stop at scene of accident). Bill C-275 received first reading on November 15, 2004. In his sponsor's speech Harris said,

would ensure that perpetrators of such violent and criminal acts are held responsible and accountable for their actions. The bill is long overdue. It would eliminate plea bargaining for hit and run offences, which is sorely needed. It would provide a minimum sentence of seven years in prison for those convicted of hit and run causing death, which is sorely needed. It would provide a minimum of four years in prison for those convicted of hit and run causing bodily harm, which again is sorely needed. To date, perpetrators of hit and run offences causing bodily harm or death have almost never received more than two years for this violent crime. The tragedy of our justice system is that it has become so sick that people who commit violent crimes are simply not dealt with in a manner that is acceptable to our society. Whenever we read something like this in the paper where the convicted person was let off with a slap on the wrist for a violent crime they committed, I, like Canadians all across this country, just roll our eyes and ask where the justice is. What is wrong with our justice system that this could be allowed to happen over and over again? Bill C-275, Carley's law, would bring sentences for hit and run offences in line with sentencing guidelines for other violent crimes, namely manslaughter and attempted murder, because it is as serious a crime as manslaughter or attempted murder. —Mr. Richard Harris (Cariboo—Prince George, CPC), March 8, 2005

The Minister of Justice did not support bill based on its lack of distinction between intentionally and unintentionally not stopping at the scene of accident and its dis-proportionality to other crimes, so the bill was voted down, 194 to 94, on June 22, 2005. Meanwhile, his constituency association (most of whom had supported Harris' nomination challenger, Elmer Thiessen) formed a committee, once again headed by Dan MacLaren, to investigate the financial irregularities charges, eventually finding charges to be valid. The constituency association held an election in February 2005 for their board of directors. The new board withdrew the previous board's findings against Harris. A month later, the RCMP dropped its investigation due to "insufficient information". A new constituency office was opened in Williams Lake in September 2004 and an office in Quesnel in November 2005.