Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he wants to use the notwithstanding clause — which has never been used by a federal government before — to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences for murderers.
In 2022, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that “the section of the Criminal Code that permits consecutive parole ineligibility periods of 25 years in cases involving multiple first-degree murders” was unconstitutional.
Poilievre announced his plan Monday to use the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation that he says would restore power for judges to hand down consecutive life sentences for perpetrators who have committed multiple murders.
If he follows through, this would be the first federal use of the controversial notwithstanding clause in Canada. Several provinces have used the clause, which allows legislation to be enacted notwithstanding any infringements it might cause on Canadians’ constitutional rights.
“A Conservative government will reintroduce and pass the law that empowered judges to impose consecutive sentences for killers convicted of multiple murders,” Poilievre said at a campaign stop in Montreal Monday.
“The worst mass murderer should never be allowed back on our streets,” he said. “For them, a life sentence should mean what it says, a life sentence.”
Poilievre said he respects Supreme Court decisions and the Charter, adding that the notwithstanding clause would be used to “fight crime.”
According to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, “once invoked, the notwithstanding clause prevents a court from declaring that legislation covered by a section 33 declaration is of no force or effect, despite any inconsistency in the legislation with the rights or freedoms under the listed Charter sections.”
The unanimous 2022 Supreme Court of Canada decision deeming the previous Conservative law unconstitutional came in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, allowing him to seek parole after serving 25 years behind bars for fatally shooting six people at a Quebec City mosque in 2017.
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The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a 2011 provision that allowed a judge, in the event of multiple murders, to impose a life sentence and parole ineligibility periods of 25 years to be served consecutively for each murder.
Poilievre said making Bissonnette eligible for release 25 years after killing six people is “insane.”
He also gave the example of Justin Bourque, the man who used a semi-automatic rifle to murder three Mounties in Moncton, N.B., in 2014.
In 2023, New Brunswick’s highest court decided to cut Bourque’s parole ineligibility period to 25 years from the record-setting 75 years imposed by a lower court judge in 2014 after the triple slaying.
That decision was a result, the court said, of the Supreme Court ruling in the Bissonnette case.
“Parliament has the legitimate constitutional authority and the moral duty to correct this injustice and restore common-sense sentencing with no more discounts for multiple murderers,” Poilievre said.
“Every life matters, and someone who takes multiple lives should be held accountable for each one.”
What about other parties?
Liberal Leader Mark Carney called Poilievre’s plan to use the notwithstanding clause “very dangerous.”
“We have a Charter of Rights and fundamental freedoms in this country and it’s the responsibility, in my view, of the prime minister and the Government of Canada to defend that Charter,” he told reporters in Dorval, Que.
“Politicizing certain issues with respect to fundamental rights is a slippery slope that leads to further politicization,” Carney said.
He added that his government will defend the Charter of Rights “on principle because it’s the right thing to do.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the notwithstanding clause should not be used, arguing that it “undermines the Charter.”
“We obviously need to have severe penalties for people that commit horrible crimes and right now we have that ability,” he said during a campaign stop in Toronto Monday.
“We’ve got a criminal justice system where judges are able to make that determination, and that should continue as is.”
Singh said his party’s plan is focused on preventing crime before it happens by stopping the flow of illegal drugs and weapons.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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