Ferreri says tax cuts will protect from Liberal ‘chaos and disorder’ following meeting on intimate partner violence
MP criticizes Liberal legislation and highlights Conservative policies to address social insecurity and violence issues.
By Sebastian Johnston-LindsayLocal Journalism Initiative Reporter – The Peterborough Examiner
Michelle Ferreri, Peterborough-Kawartha Conservative Party MP, is once again calling for action to address rising rates of crime and intimate partner violence in Canada, while seeming to lay the blame for these increases at the foot of the Trudeau Liberal government.
“Only common-sense Conservatives will work to restore public safety and ensure that violent criminals face jail time, not bail,” Ferreri wrote in a press release.
“It’s time for action to protect our communities and families from the chaos and disorder that has taken hold under this government.”
Ferreri goes on to cite increasing economic and social insecurity as a contributing factor to the rise in crime, and goes after legislation including Bill C-75, which amended bail conditions for accused persons, and Bill C-5, which removed mandatory minimum sentences for 14 offences in the Criminal Code, mostly related to firearms and other weapons.
When asked how a Conservative government would address the issues raised by the committee and by Ferreri around social and economic insecurity and increasing violence, details and policies remained sparse.
In a statement to the Examiner, Ferreri’s chief of staff, Emily McCullough, explained a plan to cut taxes, including the carbon tax and sales taxes on new homes under $1 million, while stimulating job creation.
McCullough also pointed to “the current government’s inflationary taxes,” while suggesting the party is only elevating “objective analysis” from third-party organizations such as Food Banks Canada and “highlighting the impact of the Liberal government’s policies over the past nine years.”
“The current government’s inflationary taxes and carbon tax hikes have driven up costs, pushing more families to rely on food banks,” the statement reads. “We would reverse these harmful tax policies, including eliminating the carbon tax.”
The release and comments from Ferreri’s office follow an Oct. 30 meeting of the standing committee on the Status of Women, of which Ferreri is a member, which is part of an ongoing study of gender-based violence and femicide in Canada.
The committee meeting on Oct. 30 included a presentation by Peterborough police Chief Stuart Betts on the topic of intimate partner violence in his community, as well as the question of whether femicide should be included in the Criminal Code of Canada.
Betts, however, pointed to the difficulty in compiling and sharing data about intimate partner violence given that, as of yet, it is not included as a specific charge in the Criminal Code, and if it was, how would it best be included.
“Intimate partner violence is, in and of itself, not a criminal offence, rather it’s the behaviours committed against their partners or ex-partners that form that offence,” Betts explained. “Therefore, intimate partner violence is not captured as part of the uniform crime report survey of police reported crimes.”
Betts noted that from his experience, there may be merit in including femicide as a part of existing hate-crime legislation, but that a standalone charge would “make the most sense to the most people.”
The impetus for a standalone charge arises from a perceived lack of clarity on the enforcement of hate crimes in Canadian society, Betts said.
“There remains a great deal of confusion about hate crimes, what they are, what they are not, and how they are addressed by the police and the courts,” Betts said, warning that such confusion and lack of understanding by the public leads to a distrust in the judicial system.
Betts warned that either approach must be done carefully so as to avoid the appearance of the move being performative by providing appropriate resources and support for enforcement.
“We’ve had 1,132 calls related to domestic violence, or intimate partner violence,” Betts said in response to Ferreri during the panel, recounting the number of occurrences to the department so far in 2024. Out of those instances, Betts noted that 238 charges had been laid.
“That’s not to say that the rest were not intimate partner violence, but they come in as what’s called a domestic violence occurrence … it incorporates family violence, which may not trigger a mandatory charge policy,” Betts said.
SJ
Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter for the Peterborough Examiner. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach him at sjohnstonlindsay@metroland.com.