Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, June 8, 2023. Poilievre says Marco Mendicinio should resign or be fired over his office's handling of knowledge that Paul Bernardo was being transferred to a medium-security prison. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Marco Mendicino should resign or be fired over his office’s handling of knowledge that Paul Bernardo was being transferred to a medium-security prison.
Poilievre points out that when the Correctional Service of Canada’s decision to move the convicted killer and serial rapist from his maximum-security penitentiary became public, the minister of public safety said he was shocked.
The Conservative leader is now calling that reaction a lie, given reports that the correctional service informed his office at least three months before the transfer and again several days before Bernardo was moved.
A spokesperson in Mendicino’s office has said the minister only learned of Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison once it happened.
Mendicino said Tuesday that there was “back and forth” between the correctional service and the department leading up to the decision, when asked why he was not informed ahead of time.
Poilievre said before the Tories’ weekly caucus meeting today that the minister has mishandled other files, including the Liberals’ latest gun-control legislation and the government’s response to alleged Chinese police stations operating in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2023.
