In the aftermath of the shooting death of an Ontario police officer, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is slamming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for Liberal legislation that softened rules around bail conditions.
“Trudeau brought in C-75. No one forced him to do it,” Poilievre said during an interview with True North. “He passed it and he stood by it ever since. Trudeau has introduced laws to reduce sentences for violent gun offences, and that too will make life more dangerous.”
Poilievre, appearing on The Andrew Lawton Show, had previously made similar points during a Friday press conference where he spoke about Liberal soft-on-crime legislation in relation to the killing of Ontario Provincial Police Constable Grzegorz Pierzchala.
Last Tuesday, Pierzchala was killed when he stopped to check on a vehicle in a ditch near Hagersville, Ontario.
Randall McKenzie and Brandi Crystal Lyn Stewart-Sperry have each been charged with first degree murder in the death.
Court documents sourced by the Canadian Press revealed that McKenzie had initially been denied bail in December 2021 for charges that included assaulting multiple individuals including a peace officer. He also faced multiple weapons related charges. McKenzie was later granted bail in June 2022 following a review. Yet a warrant was then issued for his arrest after he failed to show up for an August court date.
Bill C-75 was first introduced by the Liberals in 2019 with a view to reduce delays and backlogs in the courts system. Many critics pointed out at the time that it was effectively a “catch and release” system that would bring about much more lenient bail conditions.
Poilievre also told Lawton that Trudeau’s new firearms legislation, that’s been criticized by provincial governments and police chiefs, will also harm public safety.
“The other thing he’s doing is making life more dangerous by diverting police resources away from public safety towards persecuting trained and tested, vetted, and licensed law abiding firearms owners,” Poilievre said. “So you’re going to have millions of dollars, and actually billions if you include the cost of buybacks, spent going after the people who are least likely to commit a crime.”
