Canada has spent 50 years pretending the death penalty debate is closed. It is not. It was parked by political elites who hoped the public would move on.The public has not moved on.A Research Co. poll released on June 18 found 60% of Canadians support reinstating the death penalty for murder, up six points from February 2025. Only 30% are opposed. Support is highest in British Columbia and Saskatchewan-Manitoba at 67%, followed by Alberta at 65% and Ontario at 62%. This is not a fringe view. It is a clear national majority.Canadians are not being careless. When asked to choose between life imprisonment without parole and the death penalty, 49% chose life without parole, while 39% chose death. That shows caution. Good. The state must never take life lightly. However, caution is not the same as weakness.The proper place to start is with cop killers.Canada once understood this. In 1967, Parliament limited capital murder so the death penalty remained mainly for the killing of on-duty police officers and prison guards. That remained until capital punishment was abolished for murder convictions in 1976.That history matters. Reinstating the death penalty for those convicted of murdering police officers would not be some wild break with Canadian tradition. It would be a return to an older rule. When someone murders a police officer in the line of duty, the officer is not the only target. The killer is attacking the rule of law.This month has made that point in the bloodshed of police officers..On June 9, OPP Const. Tarun Bali, 29, was killed in Hearst, in Northern Ontario. Police said officers were trying to stop a vehicle connected to an investigation when Bali was struck. An 18-year-old Hearst man has been charged with first-degree murder, assaulting a peace officer, flight from police, resisting arrest, and dangerous operation causing death. Bali had served with the OPP for two-and-a-half years and was on deployment with the James Bay OPP Detachment. His funeral was held on June 18 in Mississauga.Two days after Bali’s death, Toronto Police Const. Marc Pinizzotto was shot while executing a high-risk search warrant. Toronto police said he died in hospital. He was 43 and had served 18 years with the force. A 19-year-old Toronto man was charged with first-degree murder.On Sunday, in Melville, Saskatchewan, two RCMP officers were seriously injured after they were shot while responding to an assault call. Saskatchewan RCMP said a firearm was discharged as officers arrived at a home on Eighth Avenue West, striking both Mounties. A suspect was later arrested after a standoff. That same night.Another incident on Sunday in Mississauga serves as a reminder of the risks police officers face in the line of duty. Peel Regional Police allege that Isaiah Bachoo, 24, fired several shots at an officer while trying to evade arrest during a foot pursuit. The officer was not struck, although two officers suffered minor injuries before Bachoo was taken into custody. Peel police say Bachoo was already under multiple court-ordered firearm prohibitions stemming from previous firearm convictions, including a lifetime ban on possessing prohibited or restricted firearms and ammunition. He now faces charges including discharging a firearm with intent and possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm, with investigators indicating that additional charges may still be laid.Then came Montreal.On Monday, a Montreal police officer was killed, and another was wounded during a shooting in Côte-des-Neiges. Reports said the suspect was also killed, and a civilian died during the incident. The violence prompted shelter-in-place warnings and a major police response in one of Canada’s largest cities. This was the first time a Montreal police officer had been killed in 24 years.These are not isolated talking points. They are warnings.Police officers do not get to choose safe calls. They go to hospital escapes, search warrants, gun calls, domestic disputes, standoffs, and roadside stops. They walk toward danger while the rest of us are told to stay back, lock our doors, and stay away from windows.Every time an officer is killed, the country loses more than one life. A family loses a father, husband, son, daughter, mother, or wife. A detachment loses a colleague. A community loses part of its police shield..Opponents of capital punishment will raise wrongful convictions. They should. Research Co. found 66% of death penalty opponents worry about a person being wrongly convicted and then executed. That is the strongest argument against the death penalty, and conservatives should not duck it.The answer is not to pretend courts never fail because occasionally someone is wrongly convicted. The answer is to build a narrow law with the highest safeguards.It should apply only after conviction for the murder of an on-duty police officer. It should require direct evidence, full appeal rights, mandatory review, and no execution while credible new evidence remains unresolved. No plea bargain should trigger it. No weak circumstantial case should qualify. No rushed process should be allowed.The law should be rare. It should be strict. It should be hard to use.Rare does not mean pointless.Punishment has a moral purpose in society. A justice system that cannot say some crimes deserve the maximum penalty has lost the nerve to defend the innocent. Life in prison is severe. It still does not always express the full weight of murdering a police officer who was serving the public..Canadians understand that. Among supporters of capital punishment, 56% said the punishment fits the crime, while 52% said it would deter potential murderers. Those are not extreme views. They are common-sense views from people who see a justice system that bends too often for offenders while asking victims’ families to wait, forgive, and stay quiet.Ottawa will hate this debate. Activists will call it cruel. Some judges will recoil. So what?A country’s first duty is not to please the elites. It is to protect its people and uphold the law. Every day, police officers stand between order and chaos. When someone murders one of them, Canada should have a punishment that says exactly what that crime means.Bring back the death penalty for cop killers. Not for every murder. Not as a stunt. Not in rage.Bring it back because justice must still mean something.
