The Conservatives said the Canadian justice system is broken after nine years of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. If people need proof, the Conservatives said it is clear after the Canadian government allowed serial killer Paul Bernardo to transfer to a medium-security prison. “Bernardo deserves to be in maximum security until he leaves in a box, but today, the Liberals and their NDP coalition partners, alongside the Bloc Quebecois, voted against a Common Sense Conservative Bill that would have immediately put him back in a maximum-security prison where he belongs,” said the Conservatives in a Wednesday statement. The Conservatives said criminals such as Bernardo “are getting out of maximum-security prisons because of soft-on-crime Liberal legislation like Bill C-83, which requires prison selection to be made based on giving inmates the least restrictive environment possible, regardless of how heinous their crimes were.”The Conservative bill would have ensured people convicted of multiple first-degree murders and court-ordered dangerous offenders would never be transferred out of maximum-security prisons for the duration of their sentences. It would have repealed the least restrictive environment standard and ensured necessary restrictions were applied for repeat violent offenders. Despite this, the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois voted against the bill, even as Bernardo’s transfer shocked the public and created new trauma for victims’ families. The Conservatives concluded by saying Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc has always had the authority to issue directions to the Correctional Service of Canada and the power to make regulations about prisoners’ incarceration. “But once again, this Liberal government has failed to take necessary action,” it said. “Conservatives will put Paul Bernardo and monsters like him back in maximum security where they belong and ensure our justice system places victims, not criminals, first.”The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) confirmed in June it was informed in March Bernardo might be moved from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security one. READ MORE: PMO confirms staff informed of potential Paul Bernardo transfer in MarchPMO spokesperson Alison Murphy said the Privy Council Office told a staff member he could be transferred to a medium-security prison.Murphy informed former public safety minister Marco Mendicino’s office about it soon after.
