Conservatives table bill to make murdering an intimate partner a first-degree crime

The Conservatives have introduced a private members’ bill in the House of Commons that would make the murder of an intimate partner a first-degree crime.

Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo says the bill would treat such crimes the way the Criminal Code currently treats the murder of a peace officer.

Caputo told a press conference on Parliament Hill today the bill would create a new offence of assaulting an intimate partner.

He says the bill would also create a mechanism for judges to order a risk assessment of an individual charged with intimate partner violence who is on release.

A Conservative party press release says that means people accused of intimate partner violence could be detained for a risk assessment “at any time.”

Caputo says the bill could move quickly through the parliamentary process and he hopes the Liberals, whom the Conservatives have claimed are soft on crime, will help to advance it.