Years of neglect and missed opportunities to improve the country’s criminal justice system under successive Liberal governments has left Canadians vulnerable, Larry Brock told a small crowd assembled at a townhall gathering in Dauphin, Aug. 18.
The Brantford-Brant South Conservative Party of Canada member of Parliament joined local Riding Mountain MP Dan Mazier at Aspen Lodge for the information evening.
“Crime is increasing and it’s more profitable for low risk, bigger reward now these days,” Mazier said in introducing Broack, who was a longtime Crown attorney before entering politics.
“Criminals know we’re very vulnerable. We’re by ourselves at night, especially on rural properties. There’s no one around, so we’re easy to pick off.
“Things are happening here and and this is why I thought it was a pretty important reason to have a a townhall on on crime.”
Political ideology, Brock began, has nothing to do with a desire for community safety. Regardless of of their political bent, he stressed every Canadian wants to live free of fear about home invasions, property thefts, or the safety of their children at playgrounds and community centres.
“That is the reality of most Canadians right now after 11 years of failed criminal justice policy,” Brock said, adding Dauphin is a bit of an outlyer in that regard, the result of the good work of local police and Crown attorneys, who he had the opportunity to speak with.
“I was actually impressed with the things that they are doing to ensure that you are raising your families and living in a peaceful neighbourhood. Now, we’re all going to have some issues . . . but of all the police services I have spoken to across this country and crown attorneys I’ve spoken to across this country, I think you can take credit for the hard work that those two institutions are doing to keep you safe. Because it’s not the case in many places.”
Canadians deserve a federal government which does everything possibile to keep them safe, which Brock said is a federal government’s overarching priority. But that has not been happening.
“Notwithstanding that for the last five years, they have heard an earful from your premier, Mr. Kinew, from your MP, from MLAs, from mayors of Manitoba, other premers across the country and provinces and territories, police chiefs, presidents of police unions and victim advocacy groups that have been coming to Ottawa consistently over the last five years asking the government to do their number one job,” he said.
“Regardless of who’s in government, that is their primary responsibility.”
Recent Statistics Canada data shows that crime is decreasing overall, but when you take a closer look at the numbers, Brock said serious and violent crimes are actually on the rise.
“While the national picture may say we’re becoming a more safer country, when you take a look at the actual specific offenses, it paints a different picture,” he said.
“Violent crime is still on the rise. In Dauphin, according to your Crown attorney, homicides are exploding in Dauphin, attempted murders are exploding in Dauphin, weapon offenses, gun offenses are exploding in Dauphin.”
It is well known that most criminal offenses are committed by a small number of prolific offenders, who are continually treated with kid gloves and easily get released on bail with very few conditions, Brock said.
“Then ultimately breaches those conditions, doesn’t live up to their promise, and ultimately gets sentenced and receives a sweetheart sentence,” he said
“That’s what’s happening. I’m hearing from victims, I’m hearing from police officers that that is what’s happening and that’s why we are losing trust and confidence.”
The problems, Brock maintains, began when Justin Trudeau rose to power and gutted a “tough on crime” system developed under Stephen Harper.
“His mandate was law and order. He introduced a whole host of changes to the Criminal Code of Canada to make us a safer country. In fact, our crime rate was at its lowest in this country under his leadership in 2015,” Brock said.
Then along came Trudeau, Brock said, who oversaw, in his estimation, the most fundamental shift ever in Canada’s criminal justice system.
Brock said Trudeau ushered in the “prinicple of restraint” through Bill C-75, which guided judges to “release the accused at the earliest opportunity on the least restrictive conditions.” That was followed by the elimination of mandatory minimum senternces.
This year, Bill-C14, Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, which came into force last month further eroded the system, despite Opposition efforts to improve the legislation.
“We had close to 35 amendments to Bill C-14 to make it stronger, to make it better, to make it more responsive to make it better, to provide better protections for victims and communities, and it was shot down by the Liberal government,” Brock said.
“I fought like hell, as did Dan, as did our entire party to warn the government.”
While effecting change is difficult in opposition role, Brock said, those improvements will be part of a comprehensive justice strategy when the CPCforms government.
“When we form government, Pierre Poilievre has a plan, a plan that I’m working on right now in terms of policy ideas to implement as a campaign pledge when it comes to criminal justice issues. He’s got a plan for the first 30 days, the first six months, the first year of implementing the suite of changes,” Brock said.
“In fact, what he said very clearly in the 2025 campaign is if he was granted the privilege of being the prime minister of our country, this country would see the biggest sweep of changes that this country has ever seen.
“We need an overhaul. We need a paradigm shift that puts community safety and victims first and not accused. Our job is to ensure that the accused have a fair trial. Our job is not to make it simpler and easy for them to ply their trade and to terrorize communities across this country. That is our plan.”