1 week Ago By Chandra Philip
Liberal Leader Mark Carney announced stricter gun control initiatives and said his government will tighten bail laws. Carney said on April 10 that his government would continue the gun buyback program that was started under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In 2021, Trudeau introduced Bill C-21, which mandated stricter gun control and a buyback program for the more than 1,500 gun models that have been banned in Canada.
It was announced after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020 that left 22 people dead. The bill passed in 2023, and the ban list has expanded since then. “We will quickly, and I mean quickly, reinvigorate the buyback of assault-style firearms and leave the classification of new firearm models to the RCMP, to the experts, not to the gun industry,” Carney said during a news conference in Brampton, Ont.
The program is expected to cost the government about $2 billion. Carney also said he would boost law enforcement capability to find weapons used to commit crimes. “We will invest in the RCMP’s national forensic laboratories in Ottawa and Surrey and the Saskatchewan ballistics lab to increase our capacity to track down guns used in crimes,” Carney said.
As part of the Liberals’ plan to fight crime and provide public safety, Carney also announced a range of bail and crime reforms, including a change to the burden of proof for the accused to be granted bail. Carney also said he would hire a thousand more RCMP officers, boost pay for cadets, and train more border agents to crack down on guns at the U.S.
border. In announcing the plan, the Liberals also included some items that are already law, such as revoking gun licenses for those convicted of violent crime, including intimate partner violence. During the news conference, Carney also said his government would introduce legislation to protect public spaces.
“We will make it a criminal offense to intentionally and willfully obstruct access to any place of worship, to any school, any community center.” His plan will also make it a crime to intentionally and willfully intimidate or threaten those attending religious ceremonies or services at worship centres, schools, and community centres. Among the promises made on this file by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is a commitment to prevent those convicted of three serious crimes from getting out on bail, probation, parole, or house arrest.
It was something Conservatives called the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law. “We will lock up the worst violent offenders longer and make sure they are not released as long as they pose a danger to our society,” Poilievre said. Poilievre has also announced his government will introduce new legislation to create a criminal offence of “assault of an intimate partner.
” The Conservatives said they would also enforce the “strictest bail conditions for anyone accused of intimate partner violence,” which would include GPS ankle bracelet monitoring. A breach of conditions would result in “immediate imprisonment.” For those accused of killing a spouse or partner, a child, or the child of a partner, the crime will be treated as first-degree murder, Conservatives said.
Poilievre has also said that life sentences will be automatic for those convicted of five or more counts of human trafficking, importing or exporting 10 or more illegal firearms, or trafficking fentanyl..
