On Tuesday afternoon Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer stopped by Surrey’s City Centre Library to announce the second phase of his ‘A Safer Canada’ plan aimed at combatting gang violence across the country especially in gang-plagued city’s like Surrey and Abbotsford.
The first step he says is changing bail rules.
“Right now if someone’s convicted of a repeat offence they automatically qualify for bail and get to go right out on the street. Police have told me it’s very problematic because their could be intimidation of witnesess as they’re out on bail or the person could go out and reoffend. Our proposal says if you’ve already been convicted of a gang activity, you don’t get automatic bail.”
The second step is changing the conviction process.
‘Right now everytime police want to prosecute somebody they have to prove each time that, for example, the Hells Angels is a group involved in criminal activity. What we’re saying is when the police know an organization is a gang they should only have to prove it once, so the next time someone’s before a judge they can get a tougher conviction because they’ve already been established.”
Scheer also put forward the idea of tougher penalties for people caught in possession of a smuggled weapon.
His plan is in response to the Liberals proposed Bill C75 that he says aims to lessen criminal penalties and puts the priority on criminals not victims.
Afterwards he took questions from reporters with many focusing on what the Conservatives plan would be to combat young kids and teens from being lured into the “glamorous” gang lifestyle of money and prestige.
Scheer once again pointed to his ‘A Safer Canada Plan’
“We have to make sure that crime doesn’t pay, that it’s not lucrative. It’s telling them if you go down that path you’re facing serious penalties. We’re talking lots of time off the street away from your family. that has to be part of the calculation.”