Leader of the Official Opposition, Erin O’Toole, announced on Sunday that he disapproves of the “defund the police” movement and even promised to hire 200 additional Mounties for deployment in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and the Greater Toronto Area.
O’Toole stressed that the extra police personnel would help fight against gun and drug smuggling and stamp out gang presence and activities in the said areas. He added that gun violence is a significant national issue nowadays, especially with “organized criminal groups and guns smuggled into Canada from the United States.”
Notably, O’Toole’s party promised to withdraw a Liberal bill that not just imposed a government ban on more than a thousand “assault-style weapons, but also required additional background checks for applicants looking to obtain a gun license.
Moreover, Liberal Party leader, Justin Trudeau, criticized O’Toole for seemingly having an outdated perspective regarding gun safety at a campaign stop in Markham.
In addition to hiring more Mounties, the Conservative leader also pledged to disburse $100 million over five years to provide specialized training to “non-provincial” police officers. This training involves modern strategies and approaches to staving off domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and cybercrime.
