"Police call it 'FIDO' — fuck it, drive on — because the system makes arrests pointless."
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says Canada has gone from safe neighbourhoods to what he calls "a war zone in a lot of Canadian communities," blaming Liberal justice reforms for unleashing repeat offenders.
Speaking on Can't Be Censored, Poilievre pointed to a recent Ontario case involving a three-year-old victim as proof the system is broken.
"It actually sickens me," he said.
"The accused had already been convicted of molesting a 12-year-old and had a rap sheet of half a dozen offences. Yet somehow he was out on the street. That's the direct result of Liberal laws."
At the heart of his critique is Bill C-75, which enshrines a presumption that judges release accused
"at the earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions."
Combined with Bill C-5, which repealed mandatory minimum penalties and expanded conditional sentences, Poilievre said the result is a revolving door.
"It's not complicated. We have a tiny group of criminals who do a phenomenal amount of crime — and they just keep getting let out."
Poilievre argued that frontline officers are so demoralized they've coined their own acronym for the futility of arrests:
"They call it 'FIDO' — fuck it, drive on. Why? Because the paperwork keeps them off the streets longer than the criminal will actually stay behind bars."
His prescription is blunt:
"Jail, not bail. Bring mandatory prison sentences. Three strikes, you're out. Three serious offences and you go away forever."
Poilievre rejected the idea that Canadian cities need U.S.-style federal troops.
"The police are doing their jobs," he said.
"But their work is undone by the federal criminal code. Get rid of these Liberal laws and let police keep our communities safe."
With crime now at the forefront of political debate, Poilievre is betting that his hardline stance will resonate with Canadians who feel their streets — and their future — are less safe than ever before.