Conservatives pledge life sentences for trafficking, so that ‘monsters rot in jail’

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to get tough on crime if his party forms government, as the Tories try to raise campaign issues beyond U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic threats.

Poilievre is pledging to impose life sentences for what he calls large-scale instances of human trafficking, smuggling large numbers of guns or trafficking fentanyl.

He is also promising to reform some bail practices, citing cases that he says show the justice system is not stringent enough to stop repeat offenders.

Poilievre says a Conservative government would impose life sentences for people found guilty of five or more counts of human trafficking, or of importing or exporting 10 or more illegal firearms.

The same would apply to “fentanyl trafficking on a large scale,” though the party did not specify how this would be defined.

The Conservative leader says in a campaign video this morning that he wants to “ensure these monsters rot in jail forever.”

The party is also pledging to change human trafficking laws “so prosecutors do not have to prove that traffickers used fear or exploitation.”

He argues in a video posted on the platform X that Canada has a “revolving-door justice system.”

The Tories have repeatedly criticized the Liberals for removing some mandatory minimum sentences, and courts had found some of those penalties to be unconstitutional.

Poilievre has scheduled a news conference in Nanaimo today at 12:30 p.m. ET.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press