Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre vowed to introduce the largest crackdown on crime in Canadian history. 

Poilievre’s remarks came during his widely watched interview with Jordan Peterson, which has been viewed over 42 million times on X.

The Conservative leader said one of the swiftest ways to reduce crime in Canada can be done by focusing on habitual offenders, evidenced by a jarring statistic that comes from the city of Vancouver, where just 40 criminals were arrested 6,000 times. 

Repeat Offenders

Poilievre highlighted Canada’s stupendous bail system under the federal Liberals that has sparked controversy by allowing repeat offenders back on the streets, where they often commit additional criminal offenses. 

Last year in May, the Peel Police Service Board pleaded with the Liberal party to reform its bail policy in order to tackle the trend of repeat offenders.

Their plea came just one day after four people were killed in a fatal car crash caused by a repeat offender who robbed a liquor store in Bowmanville, Ontario, after the man attempted to escape police who were chasing after him on provincial Highway 401. 

C-75

Poilievre indicated that the source of this trend is Trudeau’s woke catch and release law, C-75. 

Passed in 2019, bill C-75 allows for a more flexible bail policy, typically preferring to release offenders instead of detaining them. 

The Liberal government has used identity politics around the racialized statistics of Brown, Black and Indigenous folks being ‘overrepresented’ in jails as political justification. 

Instead, Polievres vowed to implement a “jail not bail” policy that will reverse the changes of C-75, opting for a detainment over release approach. 

Random Crime 

Along with repeat offenders, a troubling concern around violent crime, and often involving victims with no relationship with the perpetrators have left residents in Canada’s major cities concerned for their safety. 

In 2021, the Vancouver Police Service released a statement detailing their findings on the city’s uptick of unprovoked stranger attacks, quoting a shocking total of 1,555 attacks involving 1,705 victims from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021. 

In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith shared that in Edmonton’s public transit environment experienced an uptick of violent crimes by 53% in 2023. The majority of these violent crimes (70%) were unprovoked random attacks, leading Smith to recently launch an initiative that aims to hire more police officers in the city. 

As for said random violent crime, Poilievre criticized the Liberal Government for their catch-and-release policies, leading to what he called “A plus fifty percent increase in violent crime, plus one hundred and sixteen percent increase in gun crime and plus three hundred and fifty-seven percent increase in extortion”. 

Poilievre has made crime in Canada a central issue of his party’s concerns, along with the carbon tax, immigration, housing, and inflation. 

A Dec. 31 2024 poll revealed the Conservatives have a 26-point lead over the Liberals.