If there is one thing Canada’s Conservatives believe in, it is getting tough on crime.
Wherever there is a debate on what penalties should be imposed for criminal offences, Conservatives stand squarely and proudly for more. Whether as a matter of deterrence, or simple retribution, Conservatives almost always favour longer sentences rather than shorter.
Except, it seems, when the criminals involved are their friends. Take, for example, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, organizers of the notorious “Freedom Convoy” that took much of downtown Ottawa hostage for three weeks in 2022, and folk heroes to the populist right.
Andrew Coyne watch In effect
