From guns and gangs to safer streets: How each federal party plans to combat GTA gun crime
As Election Day nears, CTV News Toronto is taking a deeper look into the issues that matter most to local voters, breaking down the party promises as they apply to Battleground: GTA.
The Issue
As Scarborough resident Louis March surveys the park near his home, he explains what he calls the ‘playground test.’
“It speaks a very loud story about the safety within the city of Toronto,” he says.
His theory: when gun violence is up, in certain neighbourhoods, the swings and slides sit empty, even on the nicest of days.
“Parents are not letting their children out to play,” he says. “It’s not difficult to see it.”
“My two boys, my two grandsons, they basically stay in the house,” echoes Michelle Bowen, who is still shaken by a shooting in her Chester Le neighbourhood a few weeks ago.
“You can’t even go out of your house now,” she says.
“We need to step up and do something,” her neighbour Cliff Stunden maintains.
The Background
With 291 shootings in Toronto so far this year, and 28 people killed, it is clear that gun violence remains a major problem—one that federal party leaders are vowing to address.
March, who founded the Zero Gun Violence Movement group, calls political solutions to date reactionary, fragmented, and inconsistent; a national strategy that addresses root issues and stems the flow of illegal guns into the country is needed to affect real change, he says.
“The fact that gun violence continues to increase, trending upward, means that what government is doing is not working,” he says.
“It shouldn’t have to take people getting shot for this to be done,” Bowen adds.
The Liberal Promise
“Community safety is not up for negotiation with the gun lobby,” Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau proclaimed Sept. 5 in Markham.
Trudeau’s Liberal government banned the use, sale and import of assault-style firearms, and the party is vowing if re-elected to make it mandatory for the owners of barred guns to sell them back to the government or have them rendered inoperable.
The Liberals are also looking to crack down on high-capacity magazines, hike penalties for gun trafficking and smuggling, and spend $1 billion to help provinces and territories ban handguns.
The Conservative Promise
Weeks after his party pledged to scrap the Liberal ban on assault-style weapons, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole reversed his position—but maintained that he wanted a review of the firearm classification system.
“We have a plan to tackle this rise in illegal gun activity in our cities,” O’Toole said on Sept. 6
The Conservatives are also promising to hire an additional 200 RCMP officers to combat gangs and gun smuggling, and establish an entities list for criminal gangs.
They are pledging to overhaul the Firearms Act and strengthen firearm-related provisions in the Criminal Code, and expand programs to keep youth out of gangs.
The NDP Promise
The New Democrat promise on gun violence is more vague, the party’s platform noting that the NDP will “work to keep assault weapons and illegal handguns and assault weapons off our streets, and to tackle gun smuggling and organized crime.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is also promising to provide funding for anti-gang projects to deter at-risk youth from joining gangs.
“New Democrats believe in keeping people safe, keeping our communities safe, and that means making sure we have a program that actually works to keep these weapons off the streets,” Singh said on Sept. 6.
The Green Promise
The Green Party supports a ban on assault weapons and is pitching a program to phase out handguns by tightening eligibility requirements over time.
They also support a confidential buy-back program for handguns and assault weapons, a ban on large-capacity magazines, clearer regulation of gun storage, and tighter border controls to intercept illegal handguns.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.'s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease's progression.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
B.C. man fighting for refund after finding someone living at Whistler vacation rental
Edwin Mostered spent thousands of dollars booking a vacation home in Whistler, B.C., for a group skiing trip earlier this year – or so he thought.
Avs forward Valeri Nichushkin suspended at least six months
Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months without pay and placed in Stage 3 of the league's player assistance program.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Mortgage companies could intensify the next recession, U.S. officials warn
U.S. officials worry the next recession could be intensified by a cascading series of failures in the mortgage industry caused by crashing home prices, frozen financial markets and soaring delinquencies.