Poilievre blaming Alberta’s criminal wave on Trudeau, NDP
Posted Apr 14, 2023 10:42 am.
Federal Conservative Leader, Pierre Poilievre making an election campaign-style speech in Edmonton Thursday, blaming recent crime trends in Edmonton and Calgary on Justin Trudeau and the federal NDP.
“Trudeau and the NDP have caused this crime wave with policies that allow the same repeat violent offenders loose on our streets to terrorize innocent people,” said the Conservative Party Leader.
“The same violent criminals are going back and forth into jail through a revolving door,” He added. “Trudeau and the NDP have caused this crimewave. With policies that allow the same repeat violent offenders loose on our street to terrorize innocent people.”
Poilievre is calling for bail reform, which, is already underway.
“Jail, not bail for repeat violent offenders. Ban hard drugs, and stop giving out taxpayer-funded drugs. Instead, invest in rehabilitation and treatment.”
Just last month, Canada’s Federal Justice Minister committed to making changes to the Criminal Code and Canada’s bail system, to address the challenges posed by repeat violent offenders.
Poilievre spoke to media in a campaign-style speech Thursday, following recent violent crimes in Calgary and Edmonton. He started off by reading aloud a list of violent crimes in Alberta, blaming Justin Trudeau and the NDP for the crime spree across the country.
One man is in hospital with serious injuries following what police believe to be a random stabbing early Thursday morning at this southeast Edmonton bus stop.
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Edmonton Police say the victim called 9-1-1 before collapsing, and say the suspect fled the area on foot and is still at large Thursday afternoon. This is just the most recent incident in a string of violent crimes.
Only one day earlier, EPS responded to what they call a “targeted” stabbing at Southgate Mall, which led to an 18-year-old man being sent to hospital with serious injuries.
And over the last few days in Calgary, a shooting on a transit bus in front of the Central Library, a body was found in a suitcase in a dumpster in the city’s southeast, a teen stabbed an adult in a transit bus, and a man in his 20s was shot in Kensington and died downtown.
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“That is a normal day in an average Canadian city after eight years of Justin Trudeau and a costly coalition with the NDP,” he said after reading the list of recent crimes,” said Trudeau.
However, Doug King, a professor of justice studies at Mount Royal University says even with recent increases of crime in Canada, we are sill lowest point since the 1990’s and says statements like these made by politicians can contribute to the fear of crime.
“You have to be very mindful of doing that because when fear of crime goes up, its very hard to bring it down,” said King. “You should avoid lumping all crime together.”
This criminologist says it’s important to separate targeted criminal attacks from the random violence seen commonly on transit, which he says has everything to do with the pandemic.
“We all know mental health among most people suffered during the pandemic, but we failed to realize the people who were on the street or disconnected from society were further disconnected from the social agencies and the help that was being made available to them.”
In response to violence in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta’s UCP government announced earlier this month funding for 100 police officers to patrol high-crime areas.
-With files from Alejandro Melgar, CityNews
