Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland politicized the issue when asked by reporters about the recent crash on Hwy. 401 in Ontario that killed an infant and two grandparents. Gagandeep Singh was the driver speeding the wrong way down the busy Greater Toronto Area (GTA) highway after attempting to rob a liquor store in Bowmanville, ON. He crashed killing four people including himself. Singh, who was fleeing from police, was reportedly an illegal immigrant out on bail for multiple other crimes, one of them allegedly violent. One of the conditions of his bail was to avoid all LCBO locations (Ontario liquor stores).Freeland said it was “not very Canadian” to point these details out, such as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre who has, since reports of the driver’s background surfaced. The opposition leader has blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “catch and release” program, where repeat criminals are released on bail and go out and commit more crimes. The deputy PM said every heart in Canada is broken by that “terrible, terrible, accident,” and especially on Mother’s Day, “all of us are crying with them. “I do also want to say, I think it is really awful to try to score cheap, partisan, political points off of a family’s grief. I don’t think that’s a very Canadian way,” said Freeland. Freeland defended the Trudeau Liberals and claimed the government has “tightened bail laws” and that all Canadians should feel safe driving down the highway. Poilievre, meanwhile, has promised “jail, not bail,” for repeat criminals if he gets elected.
