TRURO, N.S. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he understands why Canadians would be shocked by the sentence handed to a terror suspect near Toronto.
Harper was critical of the law that gave criminals extra credit for prison time served before a conviction at a news conference in Truro, N.S., where he was making an infrastructure announcement.
The prime minister didn't get into specifics about the sentence, but says it's why the government brought in a provision that would eliminate the so-called two-for-one credit from the Criminal Code.
The bill only recently became law after passing the Senate.
Amin Mohamed Durrani was handed a 7 1/2-year sentence, but with the standard two-for-one credit for the more than 3 1/2 years he has spent in prison since his arrest, Durrani was sentenced in a court in Brampton, Ont., to serve one more day.
The 23-year-old will also be on probation for three years.
Durrani is one of the so-called Toronto 18 accused of plotting to blow up Parliament and kill the prime minister.
Some provinces have complained that their remand facilities and courts are clogged up by the system.
The government has also argued that prisoners are gaming the system to get out of jail early. They claim that many unsentenced prisoners fight to stay in remand longer, so that they can avoid long stays in sentenced custody.
But experts who testified at parliamentary committees said there is only limited anecdotal evidence suggesting prisoners are gaming the system. They said the number of people in remand is growing mainly because of new laws, changes in the way bail is granted and backlog in the courts.
