QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Public Safety
Crime Rates
September 19, 2024
Minister, Canada’s crime rate has been going up since 2015. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact backed by Statistics Canada.
The violent crime severity index rose by 6% in 2021 and by 5% in 2022. Level 1 sexual assaults increased by an alarming 18% in 2021 and jumped again in 2022. The homicide rate rose by 8% in 2022, reaching its highest level since 1992.
Minister, these numbers are not just shocking, they are terrifying. They prove that your government has failed. Why should we believe that you are capable of keeping Canadians safe when the stats show the opposite?
I share Senator Housakos’ concern about Canada’s rising crime rate. This is a major concern for all Canadians and for our government. That is why we have invested additional resources in the RCMP and the CBSA. We are working with Canada’s allies to stop cross-border crime, and it’s challenging.
We strengthened a number of Criminal Code provisions in cooperation with the provincial premiers. I’m referring specifically to Bill C-48 on bail reform. I think that parliamentarians will always have to think about how to improve laws and add additional resources.
I find it rather ironic that Senator Housakos is asking a question about the rise in crime right after one about getting rid of certain gun control measures.
I find it ironic that those questions came back to back.
The real irony, minister, is that your government has failed time and time again on these issues.
Bill C-5 authorized the use of conditional sentence orders for serious crimes such as criminal harassment and sexual assault. Bill C-75 relaxes bail conditions. Bill C-48 is a hasty attempt to close the loophole that you yourself created in our now flawed bail system.
How can you defend your government’s record when violent crime in this country is on the rise because of your policies, and it has been rising every year for quite some time now?
I understand the partisan tendency to blame the government for these disturbing increases in crime rates. I see Senator Housakos trying to make that connection, but many other countries are facing similar challenges.
I recognize that the government has a duty to support our law enforcement agencies and provide them with the tools and resources they need to combat the disturbing rise in crime rates. We will continue to do whatever is necessary, including, in some cases, legislative reforms.
