Scheer vows criminal crackdown on human trafficking in election pledge
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is promising funding for police, survivor services and public awareness to fight human trafficking as he continues laying planks in his campaign platform.
The previous Conservative government created a four-year strategy to combat human trafficking in 2012. It expired in 2016, shortly after the Liberals took office.
Scheer promised Wednesday to revive it and made other promises to make up a four-point plan that is already facing criticism from the Liberals.
At a stop in Aylmer, Ont., Scheer promised to make changes to the Criminal Code to make it easier to convict people accused of human trafficking. The plan also calls for changes to end “automatic bail” for those charged with trafficking — even though there is no “automatic bail” in Canadian law — and would make those convicted serve a consecutive sentence for each victim, rather than concurrent terms.