BERNARDO: Car theft debacle, the inevitable result of failed Trudeau policies

On February 27, 2024, speaking at an Etobicoke town hall meeting, Toronto Police Service Constable Marco Ricciardi said: “To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at the front door because they are breaking into your home to steal your car; they don’t want anything else.” His rationale? “A lot of them that they’re arresting have guns on them and they are not toy guns. They are real guns. They’re loaded.” Reaction to Constable Ricciardi’s advice to submit to violent criminals was swift and harsh. While his statements were well intentioned — to keep GTA residents safe from criminals who seemingly operate with impunity — they offended the basic sense of human dignity of those same residents. Are police abdicating their responsibility? Aren’t they supposed to apprehend criminals, not cower before them? Absolutely and, in a Canada where the rule of law still held meaning, that would happen. But Constable Ricciardi’s statements are not the origin of the story, they are merely an inevitable footnote to it. After almost a decade, Liberal policies protect criminals to a degree never before seen in Canada. The Trudeau Liberal government’s Bill C-5, which received Royal Assent on November 17, 2022, removed all mandatory minimum sentences from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) and 14 others from the Criminal Code. Among the mandatory minimums dropped by Trudeau’s government were for possession of firearms, the use of firearms and the use of firearms while committing other offences. Bill C-5 also expanded the availability of Conditional Sentence Orders, commonly referred to as house arrest, for the crimes of sexual assault, kidnapping, arson and offences prosecuted by indictment that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years or more. When criminals no longer fear a mandatory minimum sentence for possessing an illegal handgun, the inevitable result is more criminals will use guns to commit their crimes. Then there's skyrocketing auto crime. A vehicle is stolen every 40 minutes. From January 1 to March 18, 2024, Toronto carjackings have more than doubled the rate for 2023. Trudeau’s “answer” is to host a hastily-called “summit” on auto crime, which did little more than give the prime minister another photo and sound-bite opportunity. “The meeting was intended to reassure Canadians that the government was aware of the issue and that it was considering a number of responses,” wrote the New York Times. The hallmark of Justin Trudeau’s government is that they’re “aware” and “considering options” to address the harsh realities faced by everyday Canadians, yet they are more out of touch with us every single day. Trudeau’s ineptness leaves police forces across Canada caught between a rock and a hard place. Criminals, emboldened by a Liberal government that has systematically reduced penalties for a wide range of crimes, don’t fear being arrested — let alone face serious prison time. Lax bail conditions, for example, allowed Darnell Reid to escape incarceration repeatedly and, ultimately, cost 25-year-old Darian Henderson-Bellman her life. Despite repeated breaches of multiple Firearms Prohibition and No Contact orders, Reid allegedly murdered the 25-year-old woman with an illegal handgun. Four years later, Reid has yet to stand trial for first degree murder. This Liberal government doesn’t take repeated violations of Firearms Prohibitions Orders seriously, not even when they lead to the death of a promising young woman. Given their lack of action on the worst of crime, it’s no surprise that Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government don’t take car theft seriously either. So, while embarrassed because three vehicles were stolen from the current and former justice minister, Trudeau still won’t act to stop the skyrocketing rate of auto thefts and the home invasions related to them. The inevitable consequence for a society that refuses to punish criminal offenders, is a lawless society where good men and women live in constant fear and the lawless commit their crimes with impunity. Constable Ricciardi’s recent statements are the direct result of the Trudeau government’s failure to do its job. The only hope we have to get Trudeau and the rest of his government to take crime seriously is by telling them directly that this current state is unacceptable, informing them it will not be tolerated and making sure they know it will cost them your vote in the next federal election. Call or write your Member of Parliament, especially if you live in Ontario, and (politely) demand this government stop pandering to criminals and start putting them behind bars. You can find your Member of Parliament here. Tony Bernardo is executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association