On Parliament Hill

Last week my On Parliament Hill article was entitled: “Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic,” referencing Justin Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle in an attempt to distract Canadians from the failed and out-of-touch policies of his Liberal government. Well, it only took five days after the shuffle before the Liberal government’s new Justice Minister, Arif Virani, reconfirmed how out of touch he and this Liberal government are with Canadians when he stated: “I think that empirically it’s unlikely’ Canada is becoming less safe.” (Reuters, July 31, 2023)

Simply put, Mr. Virani, you are wrong, and here are the facts.

According to Minister Virani’s own government, since Justin Trudeau took power in 2015, Statistics Canada indicates that across Canada:

• Violent crime has risen 39%.
• Gang-related homicides are up 108%.
• Violent gun crime has steadily increased every year, up 101% since 2015.
• Murders are up 43%, the highest rate in 30 years.

In Winnipeg, since 2015, Violent Criminal Code Violations have increased by 48.5%. Homicides have increased from 22 to 52. That is a 136.36% increase!

What is more baffling, Mr. Virani’s own riding of Parkdale-High Park is located in the City of Toronto. In that city, Homicides have increased 66%, the highest in 30 years, Violent Crime is up 30%, and Violent Firearms Offences are up 64%.

What Trudeau’s new Justice Minister has revealed to Canadians is that nothing will change under his or the Liberal government’s watch; rather, Canadians can expect more catch-and-release policies with increased deadly crime rates as a result. Canadians are right when they say they feel there has been an increase in crime.

The good news is that Conservatives have a plan.

Canada wasn’t like this before Trudeau, and it won’t be like this after he’s gone. Conservatives will end Trudeau’s catch-and-release policies and keep the small number of dangerous repeat violent offenders in our country where they belong – behind bars. We will fix the problem Trudeau started with his flawed bills, like C-75 and C-5, that let dangerous repeat violent offenders out onto the streets and back into our communities. Only common-sense Conservatives will bring home safe streets.