Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he’ll ensure multiple-murderers die in jail by becoming the first Canadian prime minister to override Charter rights by invoking the notwithstanding clause.
“Conservatives believe a punishment should be proportionate to the crime. If you kill multiple people you should spend the rest of your life behind bars,” he said in a video promoting the policy. “Multiple-murderers should only come out in a box.”
People convicted of first-degree murder in Canada are ineligible for parole for 25 years.
A sentencing provision introduced in 2011 by the Harper Conservatives gave judges discretion to hand out consecutive, 25-year blocks of parole ineligibility in cases where an offender has committed multiple first-degree murders.
It means that if someone was convicted of six murders they would not be eligible for parole for 150 years.
But that provision in the law was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2022, which said consecutive periods of parole ineligibility “are intrinsically incompatible with human dignity because of their degrading nature.”
The notwithstanding clause, Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, gives parliaments in Canada the power to override certain portions of the Charter for five-year terms when passing legislation.
The clause can only override certain sections of the charter — including Section 2 and sections 7 to 15, which deal with fundamental freedoms, legal rights and equality rights — but can’t be used to override democratic rights.
Once invoked, Section 33 prevents any judicial review of the legislation in question. After five years, the clause ceases to have any effect — unless it is re-enacted.
The clause has been used at the provincial level multiple times including in recent years by Saskatchewan, Quebec and Ontario, but it has never been used at the federal level.
Poilievre said Alexandre Bissonnette, the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooter who killed six people, and Justin Bourque, who shot and killed three Mounties in New Brunswick in 2014, are good examples of why he needs to use the clause.
After Bissonnette pleaded guilty in 2018, the Crown asked the Quebec Superior Court judge to impose a parole ineligibility period of 150 years — 25 consecutive years for each of the six people he murdered.
The judge handed down a life sentence with no chance of parole for 40 years — a decision that was overturned in 2020 by the Quebec Court of Appeal, which unanimously decided to set Bissonnette’s period of parole ineligibility at 25 years. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld that decision in May 2022.
When Bourque was sentenced, the judge applied the Harper-era law, resulting in Bourque being ineligible for parole for 75 years.
But in a 2023 decision, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal reduced Bourque’s parole eligibility by 50 years. The ruling means the 33-year-old can now seek parole at age 49 instead of 99.
“A Conservative government will reintroduce and pass the law that empowered judges to impose consecutive sentences for killers convicted of multiple murders,” Poilievre said during a campaign stop in Montreal on Monday.
The Conservatives introduced their sentencing provisions in 2011, suggesting the release of multiple-murderers after only serving 25 years in prison has been an issue of concern for the party at least since then.
But when asked if he could cite an instance where someone who was convicted of multiple murders was set free after 25 years, Poilievre could not provide an example.
“The problem is that the ruling just happened in 2022, so the clock started ticking in these cases in that year,” Poilievre said. “So what we will see is 25 years forward, these offenders will be eligible for parole.”
Liberal Leader Mark Carney said using the notwithstanding clause is “dangerous” and risks putting Canada on a slippery slope that will see criminal justice politicized.
“I think this is a very dangerous step,” Carney said during a campaign stop in Dorval, Que., Monday. “We have a Charter of Rights and fundamental freedoms in this country, and it’s the responsibility, in my view, of the prime minister of the government of Canada to defend that Charter, those fundamental rights.”
Carney said politicizing issues that are tied to the fundamental rights of Canadians puts the country on a “slippery slope that leads to further politicization.”
Carney said if Poilievre is serious about cracking down on crime, he would stop opposing gun control measures whenever they’re introduced in legislation.
Speaking during a campaign stop in Toronto, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also opposed the use of the notwithstanding clause, saying he’s concerned about its use by the provinces and does not want the federal government to follow their lead.
“I’m concerned with the fact it’s being used more and more,” Singh said. “Charter rights, human rights, should not be things we should be willing to ignore or put to the side.”
Poilievre’s previous election promises include a pledge to pass a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out law,” which would stop criminals convicted of three “serious” offences from ever getting bail, probation, parole or house arrest.
Three-time serious, violent criminals would be classified as “dangerous offenders” under the law to make their release into the community less likely. Repeat offenders would also be required to serve a minimum sentence of 10 years to life behind bars for their third offence.
Poilievre also said in February that he will change criminal law if he’s elected so that all drug “kingpins” convicted of trafficking what he’s calling major quantities of fentanyl are hit with a mandatory life sentence in prison.
He said the mandatory life sentence would apply to all people convicted of selling “40 milligrams of this poison,” which he said is enough to kill 20 people. He’s pitching a 15-year sentence for traffickers convicted of selling smaller quantities of between 20 and 40 milligrams.
Mandatory minimum sentencing policies have been overturned by the Supreme Court in the past, but Poilievre has said he’s open to using the notwithstanding clause to pass criminal laws through Parliament if his party forms the next government.
