DARTMOUTH, N.S. - The Nova Scotia Conservatives are planning to make parents pay for some of their children's crimes.
Premier Rodney MacDonald said Friday that parents could be liable for damages if their kids commit theft or property offences.
Under the proposed law, property owners could start civil action for damages up to $5,000.
At an election campaign news conference, MacDonald said the move is part of the Conservative plan to help victims of crime.
"People are frustrated when a young person damages their property or steals something from them and receives what they feel is a fairly light sentence," he said.
"The child usually has no means to pay for the damage or replace what is stolen, so the victim is left to do that. I don't think that's fair."
The premier adds that the new law would recognize certain parental defences.
He said those defences would include that the parent was exercising reasonable supervision over the child at the time the child committed the offence.
Another would be that the parent made reasonable efforts in good faith to prevent or discourage the child from that kind of activity.
MacDonald's proposal came one day after he called for a curfew for everyone under the age of 16 in another effort to curb crime.
That Tory proposal would impose fines of up to $500 on parents of unattended children, but the premier stressed the penalty would be used only as a last resort.
In most cases, he said, police would take the young person home and explain the rules to the parents. However, if police kept returning to the same home, then the fine could be imposed, he said.
