UCP MLA suggests legal aid is only for criminals

For immediate release
March 21, 2018

EDMONTON –UCP MLA Dave Hanson suggested today that legal aid won’t help victims and is only for the use of criminals as they desperately look for new arguments as to why they voted against funding to fight rural crime.

In a Facebook post defending why he voted against more funding to fight rural crime, Hanson wrote, “the supplementary supply has a line item of 7.9 million increase to legal aid, do you think that will go to help the victims, or the criminals?”[1]

Legal Aid serves Albertans in a variety of ways. These include helping settle family law matters such as divorce, child welfare and custody issues, civil law issues of guardianship or trusteeship, refugee claims and also serious criminal charges.

The UCP is desperately trying to find anything to cling to in their defense of why they voted against funding to fight rural crime. Attacking the very services that families across Alberta rely on shouldn’t be one of them.

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[1] Facebook. March 20 2018. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=592815114386159&id=100009730271387&comment_id=593145264353144&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D