Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging the “biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history” by targeting three-time serious offenders with maximum life imprisonment.
The Conservative Party of Canada unveiled its crime plan Wednesday, proposing to pass what it calls a “Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out” law.
Under this policy, anyone convicted of three serious offences will become ineligible for bail, probation, parole or house arrest, Poilievre said at a campaign stop in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Wednesday.
These three-time serious criminals will serve a minimum prison term of 10 years and up to a maximum life sentence, he said.
Poilievre added that the proposed law would also designate such perpetrators as “dangerous offenders,” a legal classification that means an offender cannot be released until they can demonstrate they are no longer a danger to society.
“We need a change. A lost Liberal decade of soft-on-crime, hug-a-thug policies has made life more dangerous,” he told reporters.
“Under my watch, the only way for repeat offenders to obtain their freedom will be through spotless behaviour and clean drug tests during a lengthy minimum prison sentence with earned release dependent on making real progress in improving their lives, such as learning a trade or upgrading their education.”
Police-reported crime in Canada has gone up in recent years.
The most recent crime data from Statistics Canada showed that the volume and severity of police-reported crime rose by two per cent in 2023 – the third successive annual increase.
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A total of 5,843 incidents per 100,000 population were reported to police in 2023, StatCan said.
What is a dangerous offender?
The Conservative proposal broadens out the current criteria for the “dangerous offender” designation in Canada.
Under the Criminal Code, a person is considered a dangerous offender if the offence for which they have been convicted is a “serious personal injury offence,” showing a pattern of “repetitive behaviour” or “persistent aggressive behaviour.”
Jennifer Quaid, a professor of civil law at the University of Ottawa, said the Conservative plan raises “a whole host of constitutional and legal problems.”
When it comes to mandatory minimums and the dangerous offender designation, “there are constitutional constraints on what Parliament can do,” Quaid said in an interview with Global News.
“The idea of designating someone a dangerous offender, that’s an extremely rigorous process because what you do is if you designate someone like that, it takes a lot of evidence,” she said.
Quaid also said that putting in mandatory minimums can face legal challenges, and limits the judge’s ability to determine what the appropriate sentence is.
“I suspect that some of what’s being contemplated is it makes good sound bites, but it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell,” she said.
Earlier in the campaign, Poilievre promised a law that would ensure life sentences for people convicted of five or more counts of human trafficking, importing or exporting 10 or more illegal firearms, or trafficking fentanyl. He also said repeat offenders would be ineligible for bail.
Some experts have said those measures are unconstitutional and would very likely be struck down by the courts — which is what happened with crime measures passed by the former Conservative government under prime minister Stephen Harper.
Asked Wednesday whether he would invoke the notwithstanding clause to enforce the proposals if constitutional challenges emerge, Poilievre argued that his proposals are constitutional.
“We know that what I am proposing today is not only constitutional, but it is necessary,” Poilievre said in French.
“In order to protect constitutional rights, people who obey the law, we need to put criminals in jail, so my proposals are respectful of the constitution and are necessary to protect the constitutional rights of all Canadians.”
The notwithstanding clause allows governments to circumvent certain constitutional rights, and effectively invoke a piece of legislation notwithstanding the provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that a bill might be infringing on.
In 2022, a Liberal government bill ended mandatory minimum sentences for all drug convictions and for some firearms and tobacco-related offences. The changes reversed “tough on crime” measures passed under Harper.
That bill came after Canadian courts pushed back against mandatory minimum sentences. In a 2016 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a number of mandatory minimum penalties in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
The Liberals and New Democrats have yet to release their plan to tackle crime in this federal election campaign.
Speaking to reporters in Calgary Wednesday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney said “the full force of the law should be applied and appropriately severe punishment put in place” for serious or habitual crimes.
“I don’t jump to a baseball rule of three strikes and you’re out for a period of time,” Carney said, adding that the party will have more to say on its crime plan.
— with files from The Canadian Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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