Saskatoon MP blames Trudeau's policies for city's 2024 `murders'

Here in Saskatchewan, we're used to hearing Justin Trudeau get blamed for problems ranging from inflation to the housing shortage.

But Conservative Saskatoon MP Brad Redekopp took it to a new level last week when he blamed Canada's prime minister for the eight “murders” this year in Bridge City.

Redekopp posted a video on social media shortly after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was ejected from the House of Commons for calling Trudeau a “wacko” over a drug decriminalization experiment in British Columbia.

In the video, titled “Trudeau's wacko world,” Redekopp also blasts the federal Liberal government's decision to allow B.C. to implement a decriminalization pilot project.

Then, he adds, “It's the wacko soft-on-crime policies of Justin Trudeau that's led to eight murders this year in Saskatoon.”

Redekopp probably simply intended this to reinforce the impression that all the world's problems can be traced back to Trudeau. But eight — now nine — homicides before June means Saskatoon remains on track to break the record for homicides of 16 set in 2019.

He further promises Conservatives will “stop the crime.” Only Redekopp knows whether he thinks there will be no murders under a Conservative government, or why he waited until last week to make the link between Trudeau and killings.

Regardless, that's a bold promise to follow up a brazen accusation. But connecting federal policy and these homicides appears to be a crass attempt to exploit tragic deaths for cheap political points. Saskatoon police have said no pattern exists.

As a lawmaker, Redekopp should know that not all homicides are murders, especially since all nine of this year's homicides happened in his Saskatoon West riding.

In one unusual case, a 12-yearold boy and a 13-year-old boy have been charged with manslaughter in the February shooting death of a 12-year-old boy. If that can be somehow connected to “soft-on-crime” policies, Redekopp owes the grieving family an explanation.

In another homicide, a woman has been charged with criminal negligence causing death in the March death of a one-year-old boy. Again, no matter how much you hate Trudeau, it's a stretch to blame that on policy failure.

Four of this year's homicides have been committed with guns, and another involved a body found in a search during a firearms investigation by Saskatoon police. But it's Redekopp's Conservatives who oppose gun control measures like a federal buyback program for military-style assault weapons.

Homicides in Saskatoon undeniably appear to have increased since Trudeau was elected in 2015, but in 2017 there were just six, the third fewest in the last 20 years, and in 2021 only seven. Saskatoon is also growing rapidly, so you would expect an increase.

Notably, Saskatoon suffered 12 homicides in a considerably smaller city in 2004 and 2006 and 10 in 2010 amid Conservative Stephen Harper's time as prime minister.

Prior to 2022, Saskatoon's crime severity index had dropped for three straight years before it spiked in the pandemic's wake. Presumably, Redekopp wants to shower Trudeau's Liberals with praise for that decrease.

And if Redekopp is truly concerned about needless deaths, particularly those related to drug policy, he should be paying closer attention to Saskatchewan's drug toxicity fatalities; a new record is likely to be set last year, with 358 confirmed deaths and another 109 suspected. Dozens of those deaths happened in Saskatoon.

Yet, in Saskatchewan, drug decriminalization has never even been seriously discussed and the Saskatchewan Party government has repeatedly refused to provide direct funding to harm reduction efforts to save lives.

Prairie Harm Reduction, which is also located in Redekopp's riding, was recently forced to drastically slash its hours; we can grimly observe whether that results in a spike in overdose deaths.

But don't expect contrition from Redekopp, given his history. A couple of months after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he compared Trudeau to Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, ignoring the pain the war caused in a community with one of Canada's largest Ukrainian populations.

Redekopp's irresponsible rhetoric suggests that Canada's Conservatives are heading down the same path as U.S. Republicans, who are now defined by wild accusations and extremist language.

He makes it difficult for voters in Saskatoon and elsewhere to pretend they don't know what voting for his party means.