MLA Report: Let’s target criminals, not victims of crime

By admin on September 16, 2022.

CPC members have voted, and by an overwhelming margin they have chosen a fiscally conservative leader committed to fully restoring Canadians’ freedoms in the post-pandemic world.

In his victory speech, Pierre Poilievre pledged to scrap vaccine mandates and restrictions, get rid of the ArriveCAN app, and protect freedom of speech. In addition, he spoke briefly about an issue that has largely gone overlooked in Alberta’s UCP leadership race: crime.

Both rural crime and drug addiction-related property crime remain major concerns in our province. Sadly, in recent years there have also been a number of high profile cases of rural residents and farmers being charged by police for defending their homes from trespassers and thieves. The Edouard Maurice case is a prime example. Mr. Maurice was both charged by police and sued by the convicted trespasser who targeted him. The criminal charges were eventually dropped and the civil suit dismissed, but not before Mr. Maurice and his family were subjected to unnecessary stress and expense.

It’s clear that changes are needed to better establish and strengthen Albertans’ right to self-defence. To this end, I would like to see Alberta’s next Premier work with like-minded federal MPs to implement a Castle Doctrine within the criminal justice system. Have you ever heard the phrase, “An individual’s home is their castle?” The purpose of a Castle Doctrine is to better insulate homeowners and occupants criminal charges when defending themselves and their families.

In addition, I would like to see Alberta’s government push for restitution reform within the criminal justice system, while taking action to protect responsible, law abiding firearms owners who are being unfairly targeted by Trudeau’s federal government.

Ultimately, the Criminal Code is a matter of federal jurisdiction, but Alberta’s government can advance such issues provincially. For example, Alberta’s MLAs can approve a motion in the Legislature recognizing every Albertan’s right to self defence. In addition, I would propose a provincial Defending Victims of Crime from Spurious Civil Lawsuits Act, designed to ensure frivolous civil cases like the one launched against Mr. Maurice are automatically dismissed.

Alberta can also proceed with important changes to provincial trespassing laws. The government of Saskatchewan recently amended its Trespass to Property Act to specifically include the Crown. The purpose is to prevent federal employees from accessing private land to take water samples without seeking permission from the property owners. Alberta’s laws need a similar amendment, as well as stronger minimum penalties for those convicted of trespassing.

Of course, there is another important piece of this puzzle that must be addressed: Strengthening property rights. On this front, the UCP has failed to live up to two key 2019 election promises.

First, the UCP promised a referendum on adding property rights to the Canadian constitution, a vote that Premier Kenney pledged would be held in October of 2021. No such referendum was ever held.

Secondly, the UCP promised an Alberta Property Rights Protection Act to, ‘entrench the right not to be deprived of enjoyment or use of property without due process of law.’ Once again, Kenney failed to deliver such legislation. Alberta’s next Premier must do better.

At the end of the day, Albertans expect our justice system to do a better job targeting criminals and protecting victims.

The good news is that, we finally have a principled federal conservative leader who has indicated that he is concerned about crime.

However, if we’re going to make progress on these issues, we’re going to need a provincial conservative leader willing to lead by example.