Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, issued the following statement on Conservative support for using the Notwithstanding Clause to restore mandatory minimums for child sexual abuse material offences:
“The details of the case that was before the Supreme Court are appalling. These two men had possession of literally hundreds of images and videos of children as young as three years old. One of the offenders had 317 images of children, with 90 per cent being girls between the ages of three and six. Another had hundreds of videos of children between five and ten.
“They created demand for this child sexual abuse material, which is made from the torture, humiliation and defiling of innocent children who now bear this abuse for the rest of their lives. Anyone with the facts before them knows that they should go away for a very long time.
“These two men were, over a long period of time, in possession of hundreds of images and videos that were made by torturing innocent children. Yet, by continuing to use imaginary scenarios rather than the facts before them, the court issued this disgusting ruling.
“Conservatives would use the notwithstanding clause to overturn it. My future government will reintroduce mandatory minimum sentences for possession of child sexual abuse material and ensure dirtbags like the ones before the court are in prison where they belong.”