Make the Punishment Fit The Crime

"I'm here today to defend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly for law-abiding Canadians and victims of all crime. By allowing repeat murderers back out on the street, Liberals are violating the rights of law-abiding people to live in peace and security."

"The worst mass murderers should never be allowed back on our streets. For them, a life sentence should mean what it says: a life sentence."

"They should only come out in a box."

"[The Supreme Court of Canada's decision to strike down a Harper-era law allowing consecutive life sentences could let] Canada's most notorious killers ... walk free early." 

Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says if elected prime minister, he would change the Criminal Code to ensure anyone convicted of three serious offences would not be eligible for parole, bail, house arrest or probation, and that violent repeat offenders would remain in jail longer, CBCNews

There is less than a two-week gap between the present and the April 28 federal election. The two major contending political parties have been in full electioneering swing. One, representing the Liberal Party which has been at the helm of all that has gone wrong in and with Canada for a decade, transforming it from its foundational principles to one barely recognizable at present which has seen universal medicare stumble to its knees, a new generation unable to foresee a future as promising as their parents enjoyed, the nation's economy in shambles, and crime rioting through the streets as never before, while political permissiveness and disinterest countenances illegal actions roiling cities where huge groups of Palestinian activists and their supporters block intersections to pray en masse as a sign of their Muslim entitlement.

 

Home break-ins, vehicle thefts, store burglaries, and shootings have now surpassed in numbers along with 'stranger' attacks on the streets anything seen in the past, complemented by surging homelessness and drug addiction, transforming Canada in ways never before imagined. Uncontrolled illegal migrant arrivals, mass immigration, refugee intake and foreign student visas from problematic parts of the world have brought not only medical and housing shortages and a rise in crime, but hate-filled predation where antisemitism has skyrocketed and violent threats occur with alarming regularity.

 

In the midst of a short federal election campaign, an increasingly dysfunctional nation has seen resentment in the provinces as a result of unequal treatment by the Liberal government, where Western provinces are furious over federal interventions in provincial authority with respect to natural endowments in resources that an environmental agenda by the Liberal government refuses to recognize, as an energy crisis looms even as the economy stumbles, by ignoring the potential in sending the world's fourth largest oil and gas reserves abroad where it is needed.

 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says if elected prime minister, he would change the Criminal Code to ensure anyone convicted of three serious offences would not be eligible for parole, bail, house arrest or probation, and that violent repeat offenders would remain in jail longer. (Blair Rhodes/CBC)

 

Rampant crime was more lately on the agenda, where communities throughout the country have become less safe and nothing has been gained when the punishment fails to meet the crime level. First-degree murder in Canada is a given at 25 years without parole. The Conservative party announced a "three strikes and you're out" proposed law last week, where bail, probation,  house arrest or parole to repeat serious offenders would be denied. 

Police chiefs across the country have been demanding action of the federal government, to no avail. They speak of a 'catch and release' system, where criminals, including repeat criminals addicted to crime, are arrested and then continually released where they simply go on taking up where they left off on their crime sprees. Under the proposed Conservative "three strikes" law anyone with three major convictions would be faced with a minimum of ten years in prison and the label of 'dangerous offender'.

 

Release would be possible only "through spotless behaviour and clean drug tests". There is the example of a gunman who shot six people to death in 2017 at a Quebec City mosque.  In 25 years the gunman would be eligible for parole. A previous Conservative government had introduced a sentencing provision in 2011 that had judges hand out consecutive life sentences in 25-year blocks for multiple first-degree murders.

"And there’s also the element of basic justice. Theoretically, longer sentences for serious crimes, and for repeat serious offenders, should already be the norm here. Judges are required by the Criminal Code to consider harm against family members, intimate partners and children as aggravating factors."

"The same goes for crimes that involve organized crime, terrorism and offences that were committed on house arrest or parole. In addition, a longer criminal history can contribute to a longer sentence.However, we see no such thing. Repeat violent offenders are routinely given slap-on-the-hand sentences as soft judges prioritize potential rehabilitation and race relations over community safety."

"Instead of spending more time away from society, habitual stabbers, sexual offenders and woman-beaters are given indefinite chances at changing their ways — and when they finally do kill someone, it’s often society, not the judges who refused to meaningfully cut off their access to victims, that gets the blame."

Jamie Sarkonak, Journalist, National Post

Saint-Jerome prison is shown in Saint-Jerome, Que., north of Montreal. Photo by Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press