Poilievre pledges harsher penalties for antisemitic crimes under Tory government

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised sweeping new penalties for antisemitic crimes if elected, calling recent hate incidents a disturbing sign of social decay in Canada.

“We need a change to bring law and order and respect,” Poilievre told reporters yesterday.

“My message to the Jewish community: change is coming. That change will mean you feel safe, you feel respected, you feel at home again in Canada.”

Blacklock's Reporter says Poilievre condemned rising antisemitic protests and violence, saying they reflect a “breakdown in our society” under the current Liberal government.

“After the lost Liberal decade of crime and chaos... we can’t afford a fourth Liberal term,” he said when asked how a Conservative cabinet would enforce the Criminal Code more effectively.

Canada’s existing laws already provide up to 10 years in prison for hate-based mischief targeting religious sites, including vandalism and graffiti.

Poilievre argued those penalties don’t go far enough.

“We’ll be bringing in tougher laws that crack down on hate-based vandalism and on violence targeted at places of worship,” he said.

He outlined a series of measures his government would pursue: deporting foreign nationals on visitor visas if they commit crimes, prioritizing deportation of hate crime offenders, and imposing severe prison terms and financial penalties for Canadian residents and citizens who engage in anti-Semitic acts.

“They will be penalties that are so massive there will never again be some punk thinking even once of throwing a Molotov cocktail into a Jewish business or firing at a Jewish school,” said Poilievre.

“They will pay a severe price for that.”

He also pledged support for Jewish Canadians practicing their faith visibly and safely: “That includes wearing a Star of David, a kippah or having a mezuzah on the door... in total security.”

Statistics Canada has reported a 32% increase in police-reported hate crimes from 2022 to 2023, rising from 3,612 to 4,777 incidents. Jewish Canadians remain the most targeted group despite comprising less than 1% of the population — more frequently than indigenous people, Muslims, Arab Canadians, Blacks or LGBTQ individuals.

A 2019 General Social Survey indicated that only about 20% of hate crime victims ever report the incidents to police. StatsCan’s latest analysis emphasized that hate crimes “target the integral and visible parts of a person’s identity” and often impact entire communities, not just individuals.