Prime Minister Stephen Harper is calling for harsher sentences for white collar criminals.

In a meeting with victims’ rights stakeholders in Quebec City Thursday, Harper expressed sympathy for Canadians who have seen their savings wiped out by fraud, as well as for the victims of violent crime. He pledged that the government would persevere in its efforts to ensure that victims of both violent crime, and those who have lost all their savings as a result of fraud, can obtain justice.

“Our government feels that those committing serious crimes or defrauding honest citizens should serve their sentences behind bars and not in the comfort of their own homes,” he said. “As far as we’re concerned, victims’ rights trump those of the criminals. Our government will continue to seek harsher sentences for these types of crime, which have disastrous consequences for their victims.”

IE