Andrew Scheer said this week a Conservative government would do a better job of keeping Canada’s streets safe than their Liberal counterparts.
Speaking in Toronto, the Conservative leader said a prime minister’s “most sacred duty” is to keep Canadians safe, and if elected, he said he would do just that.
“As Prime Minister, I will lead a government that honours its most sacred duty – to keep its citizens and their streets safe,” Scheer said. “Justin Trudeau has failed in this regard and all of his proposed measures to fight crime simply will not work. Canadians can’t trust him to keep them safe.”
Read the full text of the release below.
Andrew Scheer releases Conservative plan for A Safer Canada
Conservative plan takes real action to fight crime vs.Trudeau’s do-nothing gun ban
Toronto, ON – A new Conservative government will take real action to fight gang and gun violence, combat human trafficking, and tackle drug addictions and recovery, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer announced today.
“As Prime Minister, I will lead a government that honours its most sacred duty – to keep its citizens and their streets safe,” Scheer said. “Justin Trudeau has failed in this regard and all of his proposed measures to fight crime simply will not work. Canadians can’t trust him to keep them safe.”
The Conservative plan for safer streets targets illegal firearms crossing the border and ending up with gangsters, while strengthening penalties to keep gang and gun criminals behind bars.
As Prime Minister, Andrew Scheer’s plan for A Safer Canada will:
- End automatic bail for gang members awaiting trial and revoke parole for any gang member who associates with their former gang following release.
- Identify known gangs as criminal entities in the Criminal Code, similar to how terrorist organizations are currently listed.
- Bring in tougher sentences, including a five-year minimum mandatory prison sentence for violent gang crime, with a new five-year minimum mandatory prison sentence for possession of a smuggled firearm.
- Create a Canada Border Services Agency firearms smuggling task force to intercept illegal firearms at the Canada-US border.
- Strengthen background checks for gun licenses and make it a crime to provide a firearm to anyone who has been prohibited from owning them.
- Revise the Canadian drugs and substance strategy to focus on helping Canadians recover from addiction.
- Strengthen human trafficking laws, including consecutive sentences for those who are convicted on multiple counts of human trafficking and ensuring Canada meets our commitments under the Palermo Protocol.
Scheer contrasted the detailed Conservative plan with Trudeau’s vague firearms ban that will do nothing to crack down on gun crime.
“Forcing law-abiding Canadians to follow even more laws will not reduce crime,” Scheer said. “Criminals don’t follow laws and that’s exactly why we have to target them. My plan does the hard work of tracking down criminals and putting them behind bars where they belong so you and your family can be safe and get ahead.”
