Liberal Leader Mark Carney laid out his party’s public safety plan on Thursday, promising to crack down on gangs, protect children, reduce intimate partner violence and tackle the illegal flow of drugs and guns coming from the United States.
“Tariffs are not the only American policies that are threatening our economy and our society. They’re also threatening the safety of our communities,” Carney said during a campaign stop in Brampton, Ont.
“Criminals are taking advantage of irresponsible American gun laws, and their weak border enforcement, to bring illegal guns into Canada.”
Carney also said large U.S.-based online platforms have become “seas of racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate in all its forms” and that those platforms are being used by criminals to harm Canadians, especially children.
“My government will act,” Carney said. “Today we’re announcing our plan to fight crime, to protect Canadians and to build communities that are safe, secure and strong.”
The Liberal public safety plan includes measures to broaden support for police, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers and other first responders.
Carney said a Liberal government would reinvigorate the assault-style firearm buyback program launched in 2020, shortly after the mass shooting in Portapique, N.S., which left 22 people dead.
The government started by banning 1,500 types of firearms that year, with the promise to buy them back. But that program still hasn’t started.
The Liberal plan includes a number of policies on top of pumping more money and effort into the buyback program, including:
- Automatically revoking gun licenses for people convicted of violent crimes, particularly when those crimes include intimate partner violence.
- Passing legislation making the RCMP responsible for classifying new firearm models rather than the gun industry.
- Increasing funding to the RCMP’s forensic laboratories to help law enforcement better track down guns used in crimes.
- Strengthen the oversight of firearms licensing and enforcement.
“You can’t be serious about being tough on crime if you’re not willing to be tough on guns,” Carney said. “You can’t be serious about stopping intimate partner violence without being serious about gun control.”
The Liberal leader said he would pursue these changes while respecting the right of hunters and Indigenous people to use firearms for sport and tradition.
Child abuse and intimate partner violence
The Liberal leader’s plan also calls for changes to the Criminal Code that would make it harder for some people to get bail, easier to seize drugs and other contraband as well as crack down on the rise in hate crimes.
“As much as we as parents want to protect our kids, we can’t always be there,” Carney said. “While protecting children is first and foremost a parent’s responsibility it is also a collective responsibility.”
Carneys proposals include:
- Introducing legislation to protect children from online crimes like exploitation and sextortion.
- Giving new funding to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
- Tightening laws to crack down on child-luring including by raising the maximum sentence.
- Giving law enforcement more time to prosecute sexual offences against children.
- Making hate-motivated murders, including femicide, a constructive-first degree murder offence.
- Raising the penalty for the distribution of intimate images without consent.
- Making it a criminal offence to distribute non-consensual sexual deepfakes.
The Liberal leader says if he is elected he would increase funding to the Canada Community Security Program, which provides security funding to groups at risk of hate crimes.
Carney says he would also introduce legislation that would make it a crime to intentionally obstruct access to any place of worship, school or community centre.
It would also be a crime to wilfully intimidate or threaten anyone attending services at one of those locations, Carney said.
Empowering law enforcement
The proposed changes mean that people, especially repeat offenders, charged with home invasions, violent car theft or human trafficking would have to prove they deserve bail before it is awarded. Right now, prosecutors have to prove that denying someone bail is justified.
The Liberal plan also calls for boosting the number of RCMP personnel by more than 1,000, and hiring 1,000 new CBSA officers to crack down on the smuggling of drugs, guns and cars.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, speaking from Brampton, Ont., Thursday, announced a slew of gun-control reforms that his government would enact, including speeding up the assault-style firearm buyback program and having the RCMP classify all new firearms before they can enter Canada.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada would get increased funding under Carney’s plan, as would initiatives that provide mental health services to first responders like firefighters, paramedics, CBSA officers and parliamentary protection officers.
Carney says he also wants to change the Canada Post Corporation Act to allow for the warrant-backed search-and-seizure of drugs and other contraband moving through the mail.
Poilievre’s reaction and his 3-strikes proposal
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre dismissed the plan, saying the Liberal government failed to protect Canadians from crime for the last decade and it would be folly to let them correct their record.
“Canadians do remember how Liberal laws made our once safe communities more dangerous than ever before. We can’t afford a fourth Liberal term under a weak leader like Mark Carney,” Poilievre said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the Conservative leader unveiled his “three-strikes-and-you’re-out law,” which would stop criminals convicted of three “serious” offences from ever getting bail, probation, parole or house arrest, keeping more people behind bars for longer.
Three-time serious, violent criminals would be classified as “dangerous offenders” under the law to make their release into the community less likely.
Repeat offenders would also be required to serve a minimum sentence of 10 years to life behind bars for their third offence, with release only possible if they demonstrate “spotless behaviour,” produce “clean drug tests,” learn a trade or get some education while in prison, Poilievre said.
“Hug-a-thug, catch-and-release policies have destroyed our once safe towns and cities. Only Conservatives will take violent crime seriously and do what it takes to get it under control,” Poilievre said.
