The Conservatives introduced a law in the House of Commons on Thursday that would classify the killing of an intimate partner as a first-degree murder.
The private members’ bill was introduced as the Conservatives signalled tackling crime will be a key part of their agenda this fall, with a motion also tabled on Thursday calling for a “three strikes” law to deny bail to repeat offenders.
The motion, the first from the Conservatives this fall, says people convicted of three “serious” offences should not be barred from receiving bail, probation, parole or house arrest.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blamed the Liberals for laws he said “turn criminals loose on our streets so that they can offend and offend and reoffend with no consequences.”
“If the Liberals are not prepared to reverse their own mistakes, then get out of the way and let Conservatives make Canadians safer,” he said.
Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo, who introduced the intimate partner violence bill, said the legislation would ensure the Criminal Code currently treats the murder of an intimate partner the same way it treats the murder of a peace officer.
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Caputo told a press conference the bill would also create a new offence of assaulting an intimate partner, and a new mechanism for judges to order a risk assessment of an individual charged with intimate partner violence who is on release.
A Conservative party press release said that means people accused of intimate partner violence could be detained for a risk assessment “at any time.”
Caputo said the bill could move quickly through the parliamentary process and called on the Liberals to help advance it.
Emmett Macfarlane, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo specializing in constitutional law, said a three-strikes law that denies bail and removes any judicial discretion for exceptions would be “plainly unconstitutional.”
Macfarlane said the proposal risks violating multiple sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the section that guarantees the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause.
Macfarlane said the courts also likely would conclude a three-strikes rule arbitrarily violates the Charter guarantees of both the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
Calling on the government to support the Conservatives’ bill on intimate partner violence, Conservative MP Dominique Vien said during question period Thursday that she is afraid to jog or walk alone outdoors in Ottawa when it’s dark outside.
Nathalie Provost, secretary of state for nature and a survivor of the Polytechnique massacre, replied that the Conservatives’ proposal is not the right way to help women feel safer on the streets.
— With files from Sarah Ritchie
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