Trudeau Liberals standing up for convicts as they try to scare voters

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Should Canada be tougher or more lenient on those who commit heinous crimes? Ask most Canadians, and they will have little sympathy for Paul Bernardo, Russell Williams, Luka Magnotta or Alexandre Bissonnette who carried out the Quebec City mosque massacre.

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Yet, if you ask judges, the people who run Canada’s prison system or the Liberal politicians who appoint these folks, the answer is always that we should be more lenient.

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There is an ongoing discussion about our justice system in Canada and the Trudeau Liberals — along with their allies in the NDP and Bloc Quebecois — are on the wrong side of the Canadian public. All three parties recently voted against Bill C-351 which would have ensured people designated as dangerous offenders and convicted of multiple murders are always housed in maximum-security penitentiaries.

Sounds like a commonsense move, but the reality is that of the 736 people classified as dangerous offenders in Canadian prisons at the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year, just 99 of those inmates were in maximum-security prisons. There were 57 in minimum-security jails and the vast majority, 580 inmates, were in medium-security facilities.

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Asked to vote on changing that, and enshrining in regulations that all will be housed in maximum, only the Poilievre Conservatives voted for this. That’s surprising given the public outcry when it was revealed that Bernardo, Williams and Magnotta are all at the La Macaza prison in Quebec — complete with a hockey rink, tennis court, excellent gym facilities and plenty of freedom.

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The takeaway message is that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc are on the side of convicts.

Liberals are also standing on the side of convicts, and dangerous offenders, as they try to scare voters away from Poilievre and the Conservatives. The latest message is that Poilievre wants to strip you, the average Canadian, of their Charter protected rights and freedoms.

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Now, unless you are someone convicted of killing multiple people, you don’t have to worry.

Speaking recently to the Canadian Police Association, Poilievre lamented the light touch too many judges give criminals. Part of that is the legislation passed by the Trudeau Liberals, part of it is the type of soft-on-crime judges the Trudeau Liberals have been appointing.

Poilievre promised to do things differently and promised to bring in the measures promised in Bill C-351 if elected to form a government.

“Multiple murderers will only come out of prison in a box,” Poilievre said.

“All of my proposals are constitutional, and we will make them constitutional using whatever tools the Constitution allows me to use to make them constitutional. I think you know exactly what I mean.”

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Poilievre’s promise to use “whatever tools the Constitution allows” was a clear reference to the notwithstanding clause, Sec. 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That section allows Parliament to pass legislation even if the courts have ruled it unconstitutional, but it has to be renewed after five years, meaning voters get the final say.

Poilievre has specifically said he’s only going to use the clause to push back against judges who go light on those convicted of heinous crimes. He has specially cited the case of Alexandre Bissonnette when speaking about this, but the Liberals are trying to claim he’s out to destroy all of your rights.

Bissonnette murdered six people in his attack, injured five more and scarred a community. He was handed six consecutive life sentences, meaning he would never be released from prison.

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The courts struck that down, and the idea of consecutive sentences, calling it cruel and unusual punishment. Poilievre says he will bring such sentencing back and use the notwithstanding clause if need be.

For that, the Trudeau Liberals say your rights are at stake.

In reality, it’s people who have committed the worst crimes, who have been given lenient sentences and protected by Liberal judges, who have to worry.

Once again, though, Trudeau and his team are showing they will go to any lengths to stay in power and in a choice between the average Canadian and convicts, they choose convicts every time.

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