Mark Carney pledges to be tough on guns, make bail harder to get and more at Brampton campaign stop

Dufferin-Caledon Liberal candidate Malalai Halimi attended announcement at Sheridan College

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mark Carney's Liberals have announced their plan to make Canada secure. 

On April 10, Liberal leader Mark Carney made a campaign stop in Brampton at Sheridan College to announce his party's plans to tackle crime. He was joined by numerous Liberal candidates, including Dufferin-Caledon candidate Malalai Halimi.

Carney said you can't be tough on crime if you're not willing to be tough on guns.

“We are taking action, all while respecting the longstanding traditions of hunting and sport shooting (and) respecting the traditions of Indigenous peoples,” said Carney. 

He said, if elected, the Liberals will automatically revoke gun licenses for individuals convicted of violent offences, including intimate partner violence. Further, the Liberals would strengthen firearms licensing and invest in the RCMP's national forensic laboratories and ballistics lab to increase police's ability to track down guns used in crimes.

“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,” said Carney. 

Carney said Canada needs to stem the tide of illegal guns and drugs coming into Canada from America. He said the Liberals will be deploying more drones, helicopters and personnel to our southern border. Carney said the Liberals will recruit 1,000 more RCMP personnel and increase pay for cadet recruits, and hire 1,000 new Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers.

If elected, Carney said the Liberals will make bail harder to get for those charged with stealing cars using violence, stealing cars for a criminal organization, home invasion, and certain human trafficking and smuggling offences. He said the Liberals will toughen sentencing guidelines for repeat offenders charged in relation to stolen cars and violent and organized crime.

“We will protect the victims of sexual violence and intimate partner violence by making murder motivated by hate, including femicide, a constructive first-degree offence,” said Carney. “We will make producing and distributing non-consensual sexual deepfakes a criminal offense, and we will increase penalties on summary conviction for sexual assault and the distribution of intimate images without consent.”

Carney said the Liberals will introduce legislation to protect children from online exploitation and provide new funding to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. He also said the Liberals will make it a criminal offence to intentionally and willfully obstruct access to any place of worship, school, or community centre.

While Carney said the aforementioned measures are necessary, it's even better to prevent crime by making sure every Canadian child has the chance to grow up safe and healthy so they can reach their full potential. 

He said the Liberals will extend Canada's Building Safer Communities Fund and support Indigenous-led community safety priorities. 

“Ultimately, safe communities come from within, from who we are and how we treat each other,” said Carney. “It's not the Canadian way to stoke fear, anger and division. It's not the Canadian way to point fingers at each other. The Canadian way is to come together to solve problems and to look out for each other – that's how we build communities that are safe, secure and strong.”