Mr. Speaker, after this last Liberal decade, Canadians across the country are living with a level of fear and disorder that none of us should ever accept as normal. Every single day, families wake up to a new story of violence, and repeat offenders are being released on bail only to reoffend, sometimes within hours. Every day, Canadians watch the consequences of a justice system warped by the Prime Minister's reckless catch-and-release ideology, and every day, the government insists that everything is fine, but everything is not fine.
In my province of Alberta, in the city of Calgary, I have seen first-hand the devastation that Liberal soft-on-crime bail laws have caused, and it is the people in these neighbourhoods who have to actually deal with the crimes of repeat violent offenders. It is the families in these communities who bear the burden when repeat sex offenders breach their conditions and nothing changes. It is everyday Canadians who now, unfortunately, think twice before going out to the park, walking to the grocery store or just stepping outside after dark. This is not a failure of circumstances. It is a direct consequence of the choices made by the Liberal government.
The devastation is clear. Since 2015, violent crime has gone up 55%, firearm offences are up 130%, extortion has shot up an insane 330%, sexual assaults have gone up 76% and homicides across the nation have risen nearly 30%. These are not just numbers. Each data point represents a Canadian who might not come home again, families that will never be whole again and communities that will never be the same.
We are also seeing a worrying rise in extortion across the country. Calgary and Surrey have become the clearest examples. Police have launched dozens of new investigations in just the last few months. Business owners are being threatened, intimidated, and in some cases, even shot at. This situation has become so serious that Surrey has created a special police team and has set up a $250,000 reward fund just to help stop the growing crime wave. This rise in extortion shows exactly what happens when repeat offenders know they can go through the revolving door of bail to return to threaten the people in their communities. In Calgary and Surrey, Canadians should not be living in fear of criminals demanding money or threatening their families, yet this is becoming more common under a Liberal failed system.
Despite all of this, the Liberals continue to defend laws that contribute to this crisis, such as Bill C-75, which is a bill that prioritizes the release of criminals rather than protecting communities, and Bill C-5, which replaced mandatory minimum sentences for violent firearm crimes and other serious offences. These actions have led to the government treating violent criminals as victims and law-abiding Canadians as an afterthought.
For years, Conservatives have warned the government that its approach to bail and sentencing was unleashing chaos. For years, Liberals have denied, deflected and dismissed, and for years, Canadians have been paying the price. Now, after nearly a decade of failure, the Liberals suddenly claim that they want to fix the bail system, but what they have tabled is too little too late and nowhere near enough.
Bill C-14 is the latest example of the government scrambling to copy Conservative ideas after spending years blocking them. In fact, the Carney Liberals have been copying Conservative proposals—