Pierre Poilievre calls for public safety minister to resign over Bernardo prison revelations
Convicted killer Paul Bernardo was transferred to a medium-security institution
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday that Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino should resign over convicted killer Paul Bernardo's controversial prison transfer.
Mendicino rejected Poilievre's calls to step aside. He told MPs during question period in the House of Commons Wednesday that he will instead use his authority as minister to change how Correctional Service Canada (CSC) communicates its decisions on transferring high-profile prisoners.
The Toronto-area minister said that, moving forward, the federal prison bureau must "ensure victims' rights are guiding the decision-making process" when a prisoner is up for a possible reclassification.
This new directive is meant to close a policy gap that some advocates say leaves victims' families clueless about a perpetrator's whereabouts.
CBC News reported Tuesday that Mendicino's office knew for months that one of Canada's most high-profile murderers would be moved by CSC to a medium-security institution.
But the minister's political staff maintain they didn't relay that information to Mendicino until the day after Bernardo was transferred.
The minister's press secretary, Audrey Champoux, said Monday the office examined "possible options for potentially changing the decision" before it told Mendicino what CSC had decided to do.
"The minister was informed of the transfer on May 30, including details surrounding lack of authorities to influence it," Champoux said.
A source in the minister's office defended their actions in a call with CBC News.
They said Bernardo's history was known to younger staffers — Bernardo was convicted in 1995 — and there was no communications breakdown. They said sometimes the minister isn't apprised of every development.
"There's a lot of information flow every day within our agencies and we take decisions on when to best brief the minister," the source said.
CSC said it first told Mendicino's office in March that there was a transfer planned with an unspecified date.
Later, in May, the federal prison agency confirmed Bernardo would be moved on May 29. The killer was transferred on that day as planned.
After media reports revealed Bernardo's move to a Quebec institution, Mendicino told reporters he was "profoundly concerned" and "shocked" by CSC's decision, suggesting he didn't have an explanation for why the service went ahead with the transfer.
Poilievre said Mendicino was lying about what he knew and when.
"Minister Mendicino said he was shocked — totally shocked. Now we know he was informed three months earlier and did absolutely nothing," Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill on Wednesday.
"This is not the first time Mr. Mendicino has lied to Canadians. I have a list," he went on, reading off a series of the minister's perceived failings, including his handling of the 2022 trucker convoy and the so-called Chinese government police stations in Canada.
"He lies and lies and lies. He's lied about his knowledge and role in moving Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security penitentiary to a medium-security penitentiary. These are too many lies. It's one lie too many. It's time for Marco Mendicino to resign."
Poilievre said that if Mendicino doesn't resign, the prime minister "needs to fire him."
If some staff withheld information, they should also be let go, the Conservative leader said.
Fewer restrictions at medium-security facility
While the correctional service sent notice in advance, Mendicino's office maintains the minister was left in the dark about what CSC had planned.
Speaking in the Commons during question period, Mendicino said he's taken "corrective action" to deal with his staff's apparent lapse.
"It was a mistake in my office and I will take tangible action now," Mendicino said.
Poilievre said he didn't believe Mendicino's assertion that his staff concealed details about the transfer.
"He expects us to believe his staff forgot to walk down the hall and inform him that perhaps the most notorious killer in Canadian history was being moved out of a maximum-security penitentiary to enjoy more luxuries and more freedoms," Poilievre said.
"He did know and what he said is false."
Mendicino said Poilievre should make those claims outside the Commons, without the protection of parliamentary privilege. The Conservative leader dared the embattled minister to sue him if he's saying something untrue.
Mendicino said that to avoid a repeat of this apparent miscommunication, he will soon issue a ministerial directive — a measure demanding that CSC report all high-profile transfers directly to the minister and victim's families ahead of time.
As it stands, the correctional service must only notify families in advance if an inmate is being transferred to a minimum security institution.
Moving Bernardo from a maximum-security prison like Bath, Ont.'s Millhaven Institution to a medium-security institution means the prisoner will have fewer restrictions on his movement and he will be allowed to interact with other inmates.
In a 2020 briefing note on the issue of transfers, CSC said it moves inmates to lower-security-level facilities only if the prisoner has made "progress" on their correctional plan, which outlines what they must do to address the factors that led to their criminal behaviour.
The CSC said an inmate "must present a low probability of escape and a low risk to the safety of the public" before a transfer occurs.
The inmate must also require "a low degree of supervision and control within the institution," CSC has said.
Bernardo apparently met those conditions.
Bernardo was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 for the killings of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.
He was also convicted of manslaughter for his role in the death of 15-year-old Tammy Homolka and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for the first 25 years.
Bernardo has been repeatedly denied parole.
The families of Bernardo's victims have said they are outraged by CSC's decision to move him to an institution like the prison in La Macaza, Que. They also maintain they didn't receive adequate notice from CSC about the transfer.
'There has to be an investigation'
Tim Danson, the lawyer for the French and Mahaffy families, said it's "astounding" that Mendicino didn't know about CSC's plan well in advance.
Danson said CSC told him and his clients of Bernardo's move on the day of the transfer — a compressed timeline that Danson said is insufficient notice.
But that also suggests that Bernardo's victims knew of the swap before Mendicino, who is ostensibly in the charge of the CSC.
"There has to be an investigation into his own office as to why such important information was kept from the minister," Danson told CBC News.
"It's really disturbing. Corrections Canada said they notified the minister's office months in advance and then four days in advance. There's a lot of explaining to do. He's responsible. If his own staff isn't communicating information to him, the buck stops with him."
Asked about Poilievre's call for Mendicino's resignation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday Bernardo's transfer is "extraordinarily difficult for many people."
"So many Canadians are receiving this news with shock and real, real anguish. The minister has been reaching out directly to Corrections Canada to ask some very, very clear and pertinent questions on how this happened, what we can share with Canadians and what we can do to make sure the system is working properly as we move forward," Trudeau said.
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