Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to hand life sentences to major traffickers, emphasizing his tough-on-crime approach in the electoral campaign.
Individuals convicted of five or more counts of human trafficking would receive life sentences under a Tory government, Poilievre said while speaking on March 28 in Nanaimo, B.C. Those convicted of importing or exporting 10 or more illegal firearms, and those who traffic in fentanyl would meet the same fate.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has gained increased attention in recent months, with U.S. President Donald Trump linking his initial round of tariffs on Canada and Mexico to concerns regarding cross-border trafficking of the drug.
Poilievre had pledged to give fentanyl “kingpins” life imprisonment in early February, after Trump imposed his first tariffs on Canadian goods. Trump implemented a one-month pause on the tariffs a few days later.
“A mass trafficker of these drugs is a mass murderer,” Poilievre said in Nanaimo. “He’s like firing a gun into a crowded room. He doesn’t know maybe who he’s going to hit, but he’s definitely killing somebody.”
Two milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal depending on a person’s body weight and previous exposure.
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Conservatives have been advocating for stricter laws for several years as Canada has faced waves of gun violence, random attacks, home invasions, car thefts, and overdose deaths.
Crime indexes tracked by Statistics Canada declined under the previous governments of Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, and Stephen Harper, but have steadily risen since 2015.
Poilievre argues the rise in crime is a “direct result” of Liberal policies and legislation, such as Bill C-5 and Bill C-75.
Bill C-5, adopted in November 2022, repealed mandatory minimum sentences for a number of offences such as robbery and extortion with a firearm. The bill was presented as an “anti-racism” measure to reduce the proportion of black and indigenous people in prison.
Bill C-75 made changes to bail provisions in the Criminal Code, giving direction to judges to first consider releasing the accused at the “earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions that are appropriate in the circumstances.”
The legislation adds that judges need to pay particular attention to accused individuals who are indigenous or from a “vulnerable population that is overrepresented in the criminal justice system.”
Poilievre said he would repeal both Bill C-5 and C-75, as well as Bill C-83, which he said is responsible for putting mass murderers in medium security prisons.
The transfer of convicted serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison in May 2023, after serving 28 years in a maximum-security facility, was met with public backlash at the time. Then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino said he hadn’t been notified of the transfer though his office had been made aware weeks prior.
A review committee upheld the move months after, saying the decisions to allow Bernardo’s reclassification and transfer were “sound and followed all applicable laws and policies.”
Liberal Leader Mark Carney has not made public safety a key focus of his Liberal leadership campaign, and it has not surfaced prominently in his electoral campaign.
“We will combat organized crime, strengthen our border, and build domestic resilience against pandemics, trade threats, and wildfires,” says part of his platform online.
The Liberal government under his predecessor Justin Trudeau had responded to Trump’s border concerns by announcing a $1.3 billion border plan, which includes measures to combat fentanyl trafficking with a joint Canada-U.S. strike force and more involvement from Health Canada to track precursors.
