Pierre Poilievre doubles down using three strikes law to fight crime

At one of his last campaign stops before Canadians go to the polls Monday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre doubled down on implementing his “tough on crime” policies if elected prime minister. “It’s going to be the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history, and it will start with the Safe Streets for a Change Act,” Poilievre told a gathering at a hotel in Saskatoon. “There will be no summer holiday until that law is passed for the politicians.” Poilievre focused on three proposed laws he’ll bring in if elected; the Affordability for a Change Act; Bring Home Jobs for Change Act and the Safe Streets for a Change Act. The proposed safe streets law includes the “three strikes and you’re out” rule meaning three serious convictions equals a 10 year minimum sentence with no parole, bail or house arrest. Release is only possible, Poilievre said, if the offender shows good behavior, is clean from substance abuse and has learned a trade or upgraded their education. “The good news is we have very few criminals in Canada,” he said, “the bad news is they do a tremendous amount of damage. The same 40 offenders had to be arrested 6,000 times in Vancouver in a year so that means 150 arrests per offender per year. “Why didn’t we just leave them in jail? There would be 6,000 fewer crimes if they were just left in prison after they started doing the damage. That’s what we’re going to we’re going to leave them in jail. We’re going to end the crime.” Read More: Decision 2025 Many legal scholars have denounced the proposed law saying it’s unconstitutional. Poilievre is threatening to enact the notwithstanding clause from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which allows governments to overrule it. No federal government has done so in the charter’s 43-year history. Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper proposed similar tough-on-crime laws including mandatory minimum sentences. The courts have struck down many of them as unconstitutional. Poilievre said the current laws are too weak to deter offenders. “The last time we did a major crime crackdown, we were able to cut not only cut crime by 25 per cent under Stephen Harper, but the number of prisoners incarcerated actually went down,” he said. “Now this was the opposite of what all the experts told us.” Continue Reading