Tories promise 'biggest crime crackdown' in Canadian history

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OTTAWA – Three strikes, and you’re out.

Adding another plank to his party’s tough-on-crime platform, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre unveiled a new “three strikes and you’re out” policy during a Wednesday morning campaign stop in Sault Ste. Marie.

“This is not happening only in our big cities, but in smaller cities like the Soo,” Poilievre said.

“Calls to police are up 7.8% since 2020, and residents have woken up to stories about multiple shootings in a single weekend, or news that police had raided an apartment finding drugs, fentanyl and other drugs,” he added.

Poilievre also brought up Myles Sanderson, who in September 2022 murdered 11 people and injured 17 others in a stabbing rampage northeast of Saskatoon.

“It was absolutely preventable,” he said. “Sanderson was out on statutory release, that is to say, he was released because the law required he be released, after 59 prior convictions.”

He also pointed out other examples – like Vancouver police arresting the same 40 offenders 6,000 times; and a habitual offender in Penticton, B.C. who, when he’s out of jail, single-handedly increases the city’s crime rate.

“It’s time to lock up the very small group of rampant career criminals who are causing all the chaos,” Poilievre said. “Not only will we repeal Liberal catch-and-release laws, we’ll carry out the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history.”

The new policy would mandate a minimum 10-year prison term for offenders who commit their third serious crime, and designate habitual criminals as dangerous offenders.

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Poilievre’s tough-on-crime platform seems to be resounding in the law enforcement community, with the Conservatives receiving endorsements from police associations in Peel and Durham regions, as well as Sault Ste. Marie – where the city’s former police chief is running for the Tories.

“I’ve never seen so much violence and chaos on our streets, and I’ve never seen so many lives lost tragically to overdose,” former Soo top cop Hugh Stevenson said Wednesday prior to Poilievre’s remarks.

“This vicious cycle has to stop, but it won’t stop until someone acts,” he said.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com

X: @bryanpassifiume

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