Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty will seek to invoke the name of another notorious serial killer if given the chance to speak on a private member's bill to make it a law that they serve their entire sentences in maximum security.
Fellow Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli (Niagara Falls) introduced Bill C-342 last week following the outcry over a Correctional Service of Canada decision to transfer Paul Bernardo to a medium security institution.
The matter echoes Doherty's fight to put Cody Legebokoff back in maximum security ever since the convicted killer of four young women in the Prince George area was transferred to medium security in 2019.
Having passed first reading, Baldinelli's bill will be up for two hours of debate on a date to be determined. When it is, Doherty intends to make his voice heard.
"I'm going to see if I can be one of the speakers on it, for sure," Doherty said.
Doing so will be the latest step in an ongoing campaign Doherty has waged to return Legebokoff back to where the MP and many others say he belongs.
Doherty said he has repeatedly raised the issue, first with then Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and with his successor, Marco Mendicino.
"I've raised it easily a dozen times with the minister," Doherty said. "In sidebar conversations, in emails, in messages, we've talked about it."
Doherty said he "almost came to blows" with an MP on the other side of the House who called him a coward for raising the matter so often. Adding to his frustration, Doherty said Legebokoff has never revealed where he disposed the body of Natasha Montgomery.
"As a matter of fact, he's tried to use that as a bargaining chip to try to get the sex offender classification removed from his name," Doherty said.
He said the Liberal government has to "do away with its hug-a-thug mentality and stand up for victims of these heinous killers."
Doherty said he will invoke Legebokoff's name reluctantly if given the chance to speak on Baldinelli's bill
"Quite frankly, I'd just love to see him rot in maximum security and never have to say his name ever again but sadly, through Liberal policy, he's been transferred to medium security so sadly we have to bring up his name to be able to tell the story of Jill Stuchenko, Natasha Montgomery, Cynthia Maas and Loren Leslie and how he took their lives and is gaming the system and so that is something we have to do."
The headline in a Conservative press release on Baldinelli's bill says it was introduced to "Ensure Bernardo Stays in Maximum-Security Prison," but whether it could be applied retroactively is a question. On whether it will be passed in the first place, Doherty said there is always a chance the Liberals will find a way to "strike it down and do their own thing. That's always a threat."
