Poilievre pledges to use the notwithstanding clause, Carney talks defence procurement [Video]

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising that a government led by him would use the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights to implement his tough-on-crime agenda — something no prime minister has ever done.

Poilievre was campaigning in Montreal on Monday, where he announced he would pass a law to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences in cases of multiple murders. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2022 that imposing consecutive life sentences violates an offender’s Charter rights.

The Conservative leader cited the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six people in a 2017 mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque.

Bissonnette was convicted on six counts of first-degree murder and automatically sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. The Crown asked for his sentences to be consecutive, which would have made him ineligible for parole for 150 years. The trial judge …