Tories Call on All Parties to Support Bill Toughening Sentences for Intimate Partner Violence

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says the Tories’ recently introduced private member’s bill would take steps to combat rising intimate partner violence, and is calling for other parties to support it.

Statistics Canada released new data on Oct. 28 showing that reports of intimate partner violence increased by 14 percent between 2018 and 2024. The report said that in 2024, 28 percent of all victims of violent crime were victimized by an intimate partner, and 78 percent of victims of were women and girls.

“We want to work with any party to get this bill passed to protect people. We encourage every party to join with us. Doesn’t matter who gets the credit,” Poilievre said in Ottawa on Oct. 28.

Bill C-225, introduced by Tory MP Frank Caputo on Sept. 18, would automatically make the killing of an intimate partner an act of first degree murder, and prevent those with a history of similar convictions from being released on bail. 

The legislation would also create specific new offences for assaulting an intimate partner and criminal harassment of an intimate partner, force those convicted of an intimate partner offence in the last five years to be released only by a judge, empower courts to detain those accused of the offence at any time for a risk assessment, and modernize the detention of seized evidence.

During the press conference, Poilievre was joined by Debbie Henderson, a family spokesperson for a woman who was allegedly murdered in July by her ex-husband in Kelowna, B.C. Bailey McCourt’s ex-husband had been convicted of a domestic violence charge hours before, but was released.

Henderson said she was speaking on behalf of “all the victims that have died by intimate partner violence,” and has been calling for changes to the justice system since July. Henderson encouraged Canadians to write to their MPs and ask for the legislation to be swiftly passed.

Caputo said that B.C. Premier David Eby had also expressed support for Bill C-225 during a phone call with him and Henderson the previous day. 

On Oct. 27, Eby said during a press conference alongside Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser that his government would “continue to advocate for the reforms” the McCourt family has asked for when it comes to presumptive first-degree murder charges for intimate partner violence.

Fraser said while the government’s recently introduced legislation Bill C-14 that strengthens bail laws does not include changes mandating first-degree murder charges in cases of intimate partner homicide, the government is in discussions to include those in another bill to be tabled in the coming weeks.

The Liberal government promised during the election campaign to implement a “constructive-first degree murder offence” for hate-motivated murders including femicide, as well as raise the penalty for the distribution of intimate images without consent, and make it a criminal offence to distribute non-consensual sexual “deepfake” images.

Poilievre argued the increase in intimate partner violence has been fuelled by the Liberal government’s Bill C-75, enacted in 2019, which directed judges to focus on releasing the accused on bail as quickly as possible and under the least restrictive conditions. The Tory leader also said Bill C-5, which expanded the availability of conditional sentences and allowed more convicted criminals to serve time under house arrest, has had the effect of “turning the home into a prison for the victims” of intimate partner violence.