OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Mark Carney said Thursday he would pass tougher laws to stop people from being harassed at their places of worship, part of a suite of crime and justice measures he unveiled at a campaign stop in southern Ontario.
The promise comes after more than a year of reports of rising hate targeting Jews and Muslims in Canada following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, and the war in Gaza.
"I am appalled by the horrific incidents and numerous incidents in our country in recent years. I go to church myself and I've reflected on stories like what has happened with the Temple Sinai synagogue, what they've had to face right here in the GTA," Carney said during a campaign stop in Brampton, Ont.
He said the synagogue's signage has been set on fire repeatedly, its members must go through security and its leaders have set up active shooter drills.
Carney said there also have been "far too many violent Islamophobic attacks on mosques and other places of worship and community centres."
The Liberals have been heavily criticized by some Jewish organizations for not doing enough to protect Jewish communities from acts of violence and hate.
That issue, and the Liberals' response to the Oct. 7 attack and the ongoing war in Gaza, are ballot questions for members of the Jewish and Muslim communities.
The Conservatives have attacked the Liberals on the issue repeatedly. A campaign ad shared on Facebook in March accused the Liberals of doing nothing when "Jewish schools and synagogues are shot at."
Ben Carr, the Liberal incumbent for Winnipeg South Centre, said in an Instagram post on April 1 that he has long called for "bubble legislation" to prevent any religious facility from being targeted by intimidation or protest.
His post came after members of Winnipeg's Jewish community raised concerns about a pro-Palestinian protest outside the city's Jewish community centre, which also houses a school and a daycare.
"Take your arguments to City Hall, the Legislature or the Museum," he wrote. "But leave identifiable Jewish spaces alone. Period."
Carney's crime platform Thursday also promised tougher gun measures, while standing with Nathalie Provost, a Liberal candidate in Quebec who survived the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique shooting.
"You can't be serious about being tough on crime if you're not willing to be tough on guns," he said, promising to improve the Liberal gun buyback program, which compensates gun owners who are forced to give up assault-style weapons the federal government has banned.
Crime has been a focal point of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's election campaign and he has railed against what he calls the “hug-a-thug” criminal justice policies of the Liberal government. Poilievre has repeatedly attacked laws that he says let too many criminals out on bail, and has promised "jail, not bail."
Several justice experts have said some of Poilievre's proposed policies, such as mandatory minimum sentences and automatic bail denials for repeat offenders, are unconstitutional and likely to get struck down by the courts.
The Liberals addressed some of those criticisms Thursday with a promise to "make bail laws stricter for violent and organized crime, home invasions," car thefts "and human trafficking — including and especially for repeat offenders."
In Milton, Ont., on Thursday, Poilievre focused on housing, saying he would make it easier for cities to cut the cost of building new homes.
The Conservative plan would see the federal government reimburse cities for half of every dollar they cut in development charges, up to a maximum of $25,000 per home.
The party says that would result in a maximum of $50,000 in savings for the companies that pay the development charges, which help to fund new infrastructure for housing, like roads and sewers.
A Conservative backgrounder document did not specify whether there would be a mechanism to force developers to pass on those savings to homebuyers.
Asked how the party knows that developers would pass on the full savings to homebuyers, a Conservative spokesperson pointed to a portion of the document that says cities would be "required to publicly report their development charges and explain how the savings and federal funds will be used."
Carney and Poilievre both took their campaigns to the GTA Thursday. As of 2021, the population of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area was over seven million — almost 20 per cent of Canada's population.
A new Leger poll, which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error, suggests that 48 per cent of Ontarians will vote Liberal in the election, while 39 per cent will vote Conservative and nine per cent will vote NDP.
Carney is set to return to Ottawa Thursday evening, where he will meet with his ministers to discuss the tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh campaigned in Saskatoon on Thursday, where he took aim at Carney's plan to balance the operating budget.
The NDP says Carney's plan would result in nearly $43 billion in spending cuts within three years. Singh argues that could mean cuts to health care, since health transfers to the provinces come from the federal government's operating budget.
Carney responded to the criticism Thursday, saying there will be no cuts but "in fact, reinforcement of health care."
In recent days, Singh has been talking about how the best Parliaments are ones were one party doesn't hold all the power, suggesting he hopes to see another minority government.
The NDP leader released a video message Wednesday evening as a direct appeal to voters.
— With files from David Baxter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2025.
Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
