The second bill : An Act to amend the Criminal Code (failure to stop at scene of accident) was introduced in the 38th Parliament but was not adopted.
Dick Harris was born in Vancouver but, along with a brother, he was raised in Prince Rupert, British Columbia by his mother, a single parent.
The race in the Prince George–Bulkley Valley riding was expected to be close between Harris and the incumbent MP, Brian Gardiner (NDP).
In the first session he was also assigned to two subcommittees: the 'Subcommittee on the St. Lawrence Seaway' and the 'Subcommittee on the Consideration of the Objections Filed on the Proposed Electoral Boundaries for the Western Provinces'.
In July 1994, Reform Party leader Preston Manning formed a three-member critic team for Indian Affairs and Northern Development with Harris, Mike Scott and John Duncan.
[9] He was subsequently reassigned to be the assistant critic on Transport in February 1997, a role he filled until the end of the parliamentary session in June.
"[11] Harris was concerned that they would have to compromise on their opposition to official bilingualism and positions on Senate reform, family values, and justice issues.
When it came time to select a leader, Harris endorsed Stockwell Day, an Albertan provincial politician who went on to defeat Manning.
In the November 2000 election Harris, as a member of the Canadian Alliance, was again re-elected in the Prince George–Bulkley Valley riding, this time with 59% of the vote.
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 McLaren, who supported neither Harris nor Thiessen, apparently violated Election Canada rules by unilaterally extending the vote count beyond the legal period in order to receive late mail-in ballots.
[25] In his sponsor's speech Harris said, [The bill] would ensure that perpetrators of such violent and criminal acts are held responsible and accountable for their actions.
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.
Harris generated controversy in August 2007 when, as chair of the BC Conservative Caucus, he appointed Houston mayor Sharon Smith as the "government go-to person" in neighbouring electoral district Skeena—Bulkley Valley.
[32] He told residents, through the media, to approach Smith rather than elected local MP Nathan Cullen, a member of an opposition party, for help with government services or lobbying for federal funding.
[32] Another controversy arose when it was discovered that the Conservative Party used an "in-and-out" plan to have regional offices pay for national advertising during an election period.
Opposition parties contended that the Conservatives did this to avoid campaign financing limits and attain reimbursement for the costs through Election Canada.
[33][34] In the October 2008 election Harris was re-elected in the Cariboo—Prince George riding with 55% of the vote and his party again formed a minority government.
Government opposition members and local critics, called Harris to task for failing to read the Canada/US Softwood Lumber Agreement, however, letters to newspapers from the major forestry companies in his province supported him for the work he did on their behalf during the Softwood Lumber negotiations.
As the incumbent seeking re-election, there were no nomination challenges and Harris was automatically acclaimed as the Conservative Party candidate in Cariboo—Prince George riding.
Thus, quite simply, the bill would change the EI Act so that those who serving time for crime no longer would be able to receive preferential treatment over hard-working Canadians, who deserve and need this kind of help.