Federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre made a stop in Nanaimo today, endorsing the party's local candidate and promising a tough-on-crime agenda.
Poilievre held a press conference at Western Forest Products mill Friday, March 28, before stops in Parksville and Campbell River.
"Here in British Columbia, people are more afraid than ever before of crime," he said. "As our [Nanaimo-Ladysmith] candidate Tamara Kronis will tell you, when she goes door knocking she will meet people who are struggling with fear, who are worried their cars will be stolen that people addicted to drugs might rob them in order to pay for their addiction. We see addicts on street corners hunched over and tent cities that are routinely taken down and then pop up soon afterwards."
He told reporters that if he becomes prime minister, his party will impose life sentences for anyone who is convicted of five or more counts of human trafficking, importing or exporting 10 or more illegal firearms or fentanyl trafficking.
"Eighty-five per cent of guns used in crime come in through our borders, mostly from the United States, only one per cent of our shipping containers are inspected and the Liberals passed [a bill] getting rid of mandatory jail time for gun criminals. So the offenders who bring in these arms illegally get to serve their sentence in the comfort of their living room."
Poilievre went on to criticize Canada's historic reliance on its trade relationship with the U.S., calling on Canadians to "stand on our own two feet and stand up to the Americans."
"What is now clear is that it was a mistake over the last, lost Liberal decade to weaken our economy and become more dependant on the Americans," he said. "Liberals blocked pipelines, LNG plans, Ford expansions and other major projects because of a radical net-zero ideology that has made us more reliant on the Americans than ever before."
He called the current trade situation "crazy tariff chaos."
"My message to President Trump is true free trade without tariffs will allow both of our economies to separately grow stronger so we can fund stronger militaries and more secure borders and make our continent safe against the real risks from overseas. That's the goal we should all be working towards."
The federal election is April 28.
