A plan by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to introduce a “three strikes, you’re out” policy to deal with violent repeat offenders would be expensive, ineffectual, and likely face constitutional challenges, several London-based criminal defence lawyers say.
During a campaign stop Wednesday in Sault Ste. Marie, Poilievre said those convicted three times for serious offences would be ineligible for bail, probation, parole or house arrest, and given a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
They would also become a designated dangerous offender under the Criminal Code, and couldn’t be released “until they have proven that they are no longer a danger to society.”
Freedom, Poilievre said, would only come through “spotless behaviour and clean drug tests during a lengthy minimum prison sentence, with earned release dependent on making real progress in improving their lives such as learning a trade or upgrading their education.”
Poilievre also said he would also bring “life sentences for human traffickers, for gun smugglers …