Conservatives Introduce Bill to Ensure Bernardo Stays in Maximum-Security Prison

June 14, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA, ON — Conservative Member of Parliament for Niagara Falls, Tony Baldinelli, introduced Private Member's Bill, C-342, which seeks to keep dangerous offenders and mass murderers like Paul Bernardo in maximum-security prisons.

Bill C-342 requires that all court-ordered dangerous offenders and mass murderers be permanently assigned a maximum-security classification. It will also repeal the Liberals’ ‘least restrictive environment’ standard for assigning inmates to prisons and restore the language of ‘necessary restrictions’ that the previous Conservative government had put in place.

“Monsters like Paul Bernardo are getting out of maximum-security prisons because of soft-on-crime Liberal legislation. Bill C-342 will ensure these vile and dangerous mass murderers and violent criminals remain in a maximum-security prison, where they belong,” said MP Baldinelli.

On June 1, 2023, Canadians learned that Correctional Services Canada (CSC) was transferring mass killer, serial rapist, and torturer Paul Bernardo from the maximum-security prison at Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ontario, to a medium-security prison in La Macaza, Quebec. This came after CSC provided advance notice of the pending transfer to the Public Safety Minister's office twice.

“The Liberal Minister of Public Safety expressed ‘shock’ and outrage when we found out about Bernardo’s prison security downgrade. But that was just an act, and we now know the Minister's office knew for months beforehand and did nothing about it. That says it all about this government’s approach to our justice system,” said Baldinelli.

“The Liberals got it wrong, and Conservatives will set it right. We will restore common sense to our justice and correctional services system so that victims, not criminals, come first. This is about doing what is right," said MP Baldinelli. “It is important not only for the residents in my community who are being revictimized by their government but for all victims of crime across the country who deserve to be a priority instead of an afterthought. Common sense Conservatives will bring home safer streets and put the victims of crime first by ensuring vile monsters like Paul Bernardo stay where they belong – in maximum security prison.”