With a double-digit lead in the polls and projections of a massive (and possibly historic) majority in the next election, the Conservative Party of Canada ought to be acting more like a government-in-waiting. Instead, its leaders are still acting as if they are auditioning for the role of Canada’s official — and obnoxious — Opposition by politicizing every available issue for partisan advantage. Its latest foray into rage-farming around the treatment of two high-profile murderers scrapes the bottom of a barrel that was already thoroughly explored.

First, the facts. Conservatives have tried to pretend the transfers of Paul Bernardo and Luka Magnotta to medium-security institutions were a direct result of changes made by the Liberal government under Bill C-83, which attempted to address concerns expressed by Canada’s courts over the use of solitary confinement and other highly restrictive forms of incarceration. In particular, they’ve suggested the insertion of language directing the Correctional Service of Canada to use the “least restrictive measures” (as opposed to “most appropriate or necessary”) was responsible for Bernardo and Magnotta leaving maximum security institutions. In reality, as Public Safety spokesperson Magali Deussing said last July, “a transfer would have also occurred under the previous language of ‘necessary’ restrictions.”

But that hasn’t slowed........

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