OTTAWA — Alberta has an unlikely new ally when it comes to the fight against crime: Quebec.
In an op-ed published in the National Post on Monday, Quebec’s Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette expressed strong support for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s recent criminal justices initiatives and took a jab at the federal government on minimum mandatory sentencing for sexual violence and drug-related offences.
“In Québec, we believe that the sentences handed down must reflect the seriousness of the offences. The victims of these heinous crimes must live with the consequences for the rest of their lives,” wrote Jolin-Barrette.
“The lax approach that the federal Liberals advocate to suppress crime marks a major step backward and is hampering the recovery of far too many victims,” he added.
Québec, he noted, asked the federal government to reconsider and restore mandatory minimum sentencing through a motion unanimously adopted in the National Assembly in December.
“This legitimate request to protect young people has come to nothing,” he said.
The letter comes two weeks after Smith wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister Arif Virani demanding that Bill C-5 be repealed “in its entirety” and mandatory minimum jail sentences be reintroduced for Controlled Drugs and Substances Act offences.
Bill C-5 was adopted by Parliament in 2022 and is meant to put an end to mandatory minimum sentences in these circumstances.
According to Alberta and Quebec, the provinces would be better suited to prosecute criminals and should get additional funding from Ottawa to permanently take over all Controlled Drugs and Substances Act prosecutions, currently under federal jurisdiction.
“The position taken by Quebec and Alberta is legitimate: federated states must be able to make their own choices to ensure public safety,” wrote Jolin-Barrette.
“In order to bolster our mutual autonomy, it is vital that we strengthen collaboration between our provinces and that we join forces to combat crime,” he added.
In response to Smith’s letter, Virani’s office slammed the Alberta premier for “taking a page straight out of (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre’s fear-mongering playbook (of) pushing extreme, unconstitutional policies that do nothing to make Canadians safer.”
“We already have some of the toughest drug laws in the world,” said Virani’s office at the time.
”But instead of targeting traffickers, their reckless plan would throw thousands of struggling Canadians behind bars for life… That’s not justice — it’s cruelty.”
Virani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Quebec announced its support for the Alberta government.
In fact, Quebec is going even further than Smith’s government. In December, the National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion calling for repeal of two sections permitting hate speech in the Criminal Code.
In his letter, Jolin-Barrette said that these two sections “allow for hateful, antisemitic speech when it presents a religious viewpoint.”
He accused the Trudeau government of perpetuating the legal shortcomings that are “contributing to inward-looking attitudes, communitarianism, and social exclusion, thereby protecting behaviour and speech that leads to discrimination and violence.”
“Such speech contributes to a toxic climate and threatens the safety and well-being of the individuals targeted,” he wrote.
National Post
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