Poilievre pledges to protect seniors by forcing banks, telcos to crack down on scammers
Social Sharing
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to protect seniors by making it mandatory for financial institutions and phone companies to stop digital scammers in their tracks.
The plan would require these companies to detect, report and block "suspected fraud in real time," or face the prospect of massive fines and/or being charged with a new crime under the Criminal Code.
"We're going to pass the 'Stop Scamming Seniors Act,' a common-sense law that forces banks and telecom companies to deploy state of the art technology to catch scams and stop them before they happen," Poilievre said during a campaign stop in Montreal on Tuesday.
A backgrounder explaining the proposed policy says seniors are the Number 1 target for digital scammers who use phishing texts, robocalls and other tricks to fleece the elderly of their life savings.
"Meanwhile, the institutions best positioned to prevent these crimes — banks and telecom companies — are not legally required to act fast, transparently, or decisively," a statement from the party said.
Under the plan, corporations would be required to employ the same AI tools they currently use to optimize their marketing and sales initiatives to track possible instances of fraud.
Anyone caught committing an act of fraud over $5,000 would get a minimum jail sentence of one year. Those convicted of fraud over $100,000 would get a minimum sentence of three years, while those guilty of fraud over $1 million would be subject to a five-year minimum sentence.
Under the Criminal Code today, people convicted of fraud over $5,000 do not face a minimum sentence but can be sentenced to prison for up to 14 years. Those convicted of fraud over $1 million currently face a minimum prison term of two years and a maximum of 14 years.
Poilievre's plan also calls for convicted fraudsters to pay fines that amount to "ten times the amount defrauded."
"We want to financially cripple the fraudsters to deter their greed," Poilievre said Tuesday.
Fining and holding companies accountable
The Conservative plan calls for the creation of a new Criminal Code offence called "wilful blind profiteering from fraud" that would target corporate executives "who ignore red flags and knowingly allow scam traffic or activity."
Companies found to have wilfully neglected to implement scam-prevention efforts could face fines of up to $5 million per violation.
Banks and telecom companies would be required to implement mandatory scam detection systems that are specially crafted to protect seniors over 65.
Corporations would also have to create a "senior transaction shielding protocol" that would impose a 24-hour hold on high-risk transactions involving seniors' accounts. The Conservatives did not detail what qualifies as a "high-risk transaction."
During the 24-hour delay "a verification call and fraud check must occur."
Each company would be required to issue public quarterly reports detailing their fraud-prevention statistics including how many scams they blocked and customers they reimbursed.
"Our seniors deserve to feel safe and secure when they pick up their phones, iPads or computers," Poilievre said Tuesday. "If you are a bank or telco, we want you to do everything you can to protect our beloved seniors who built this country."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Lost Canadians' bill tabled after judge sets November deadline for passage
OTTAWA – Immigration Minister Lena Diab tabled legislation today to restore citizenship to 'Lost Canadians' after a court found the existing law unconstitutional. 'Lost Canadians' refers to people who were born outside of the country to Canadian parents who were also born in another country. In 2009, the Conservative federal government of the day changed the law so that Canadians who were born abroad could not pass down their citizenship unless their child was born in Canada. That law was deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Superior Court in Dec. 2023 and the Liberal government did not challenge the ruling. The government received its fourth deadline extension to pass legislation to address the issue in April. The government applied for a one-year extension but Justice Jasmine Akbarali set a November 20 deadline, saying that should be enough time for the government to implement 'remedial legislation' if it makes it a 'priority.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025.
National Observer
4 hours ago
- National Observer
A new poll says Canadians are divided on whether the US is an 'ally' or 'enemy' country
Faced with a trade war they didn't start, Canadians are divided on whether they see the United States as an "enemy" or an "ally," a new poll suggests. The Leger poll, which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error, surveyed more than 1,500 people between May 30 and June 1. Almost a third of respondents said they view the US as a "neutral country," while 27 per cent said they consider it an "ally" and 26 per cent see it as an "enemy country." Just over a third of men said they consider the US an ally, compared with one in five women. Almost 30 per cent of women said they view the US as an enemy, compared with 22 per cent of men. Older Canadians, those at least 55 years of age, were more likely to consider the US an enemy than younger Canadians. Regionally Albertans were most likely to consider the US an ally while Ontarians and British Columbians were most likely to see it as an enemy. The difference is starkest between political party supporters, with 44 per cent of Conservative supporters saying they view the US as an ally, compared with 17 per cent of Liberal supporters and 12 per cent of NDP supporters said the same. Comparatively 16 per cent of Conservative supporters said they view the US as an enemy country, while 36 per cent of Liberal supporters and 41 per cent of NDP supporters said the same. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to double his levies on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent. He claimed the measure will protect the country's national security and domestic industries. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will need to take "some time" to craft a response to the increased US tariffs. The number of Canadians that report seeing the US as an enemy country has dropped by six points since mid-March. At that time, 32 per cent of survey respondents told Leger they viewed the country as an enemy. The number of Canadians that view the US as an ally also decreased by two percentage points since March, from 29 to 27 per cent, while the number that view it as a neutral country increased by six percentage points, from 24 to 30 per cent. Andrew Enns, Leger's executive vice-president for Central Canada, said that, broadly speaking, the patterns haven't changed much since the organization asked the question in February — when 27 per cent of respondents said they viewed the US as an enemy and 30 per cent said they viewed it as an ally. Enns said the decline in the number of people saying the US is an enemy likely reflects the overall sentiment on tariffs. "It's still obviously there and, you know, clearly now we're dealing with higher steel tariffs, but the commentary coming from the White House and the Trump administration seems to have dissipated a bit and that's probably helping just tone things down," he said. Enns said Canada also has a new prime minister with a mandate that might "take the edge off things." "I think that just keeps things more at a moderate level, and I think that reflects in people maybe feeling a little less threatened by the US," Enns said. Enns said political and business leaders have also sent a consistent message that the US remains an important trading partner. He said that may encourage Canadians to believe there's a way to "work things out." The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
CBC
6 hours ago
- CBC
Albertans for Carney? They're as impressed with new PM as they are with Poilievre: poll
EDITOR'S NOTE: CBC News commissioned this public opinion research to be conducted immediately following the federal election and leading into the second anniversary of the United Conservative Party's provincial election win in May 2023. As with all polls, this one provides a snapshot in time. This analysis is one in a series of articles from this research. Alberta's politics are not without their complexity. Here's one striking new example. While this is a province where many people are newly interested in separating from Canada because the Liberals won — again — and nearly all ridings went Conservative — again — Albertans appear as likely to express admiration for Mark Carney as for Pierre Poilievre. Yes, Albertans. A new Janet Brown Opinion Research poll conducted after the federal election for CBC News asked respondents for their impression of the federal Liberal and Conservative leaders, on a 10-point scale, where 0 means deeply unimpressed and 10 means utterly dazzled. And the results for Carney and Poilievre are nearly identical. Conservatives won nearly all the seats in the province and 65 per cent of the votes, compared to the Liberals' 28 per cent — far back, even if it was their best performance in Alberta in a half-century. But the polling data suggests that the number of Albertans who are very impressed with Carney outstrips the number who voted for him. It also suggests that significant numbers of Conservative voters aren't enamoured with their own leader, though some may consider themselves hopeful about the new Liberal prime minister. Typically, voter choices are largely driven by a party's leader, said John Santos, data scientist for the polling firm. The similarities in Albertans' views of Carney and Poilievre are a striking departure for that norm. "The parties they lead couldn't have been more far apart in terms of results [in the province]." Bryndis Whitson ran unsuccessfully for the Liberals in Calgary Signal Hill, finishing 24 points behind Conservative David McKenzie. But she's been campaigning for Liberals in Calgary since 1997, and said this was the most positivity she ever encountered. "There were some people who really, really liked Carney, and there was also a factor of people being very, very unsure about Pierre," Whitson said. She had begun door-knocking as a Liberal while Justin Trudeau was still prime minister. She recalls getting praise for her own ideas and background in the supply chain sector, but people were turned off by her leader. That all changed with Carney at the helm. "I think most Conservatives were very willing to give him a chance," she said. Poilievre certainly had his regional strongholds in the survey, with respondents far more likely to report a better impression of him outside Edmonton or Calgary, and among men. In line with party preferences, Carney had higher rankings among women. Poilievre's and Carney's scores broken down by gender are nearly mirror images of each other. OK with boomers Poilievre narrowly edged out Carney's rating among millennial Albertans and Gen X. But the wider gap was among seniors, who were far more impressed by Carney, and more unimpressed by his Conservative rival. Karamveer Lalh, a lawyer and longtime Conservative campaigner, helped the party's candidate win in Edmonton Southeast, where Mayor Amarjeet Sohi ran as a Liberal. He said older voters tended to be aware of Carney's background in finance and as the central bank governor in England and Canada, and that outshone the resumes of both Trudeau and Poilievre. Who else is showing more warmth lately toward the new Liberal leader? Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who stated after this week's premiers' meeting with the prime minister in Saskatoon that she saw an "immediate change" with Carney, after repeatedly crossing swords with Trudeau and his focus on climate action instead of boosting Alberta's oil and gas sector. "I haven't heard a prime minister say we want to build a bitumen pipeline to the northwest coast in a long time," Smith told Power & Politics on Monday. "The fact that we have a change of tone and a change of direction from this prime minister is very encouraging." Still, Alberta's premier has warned of a "national unity crisis" if the Carney government doesn't clear hurdles to pipeline development and roll back other oil-and-gas-related regulations. And there's also renewed interest in Alberta separatism, although this poll also suggests just 28 per cent of Albertans would vote to break the province off from Canada in the aftermath of Carney becoming prime minister. (Notably less than the 37 per cent who say they are highly impressed by Carney.) This is, of course, an early stage for Carney's leadership, and most new prime ministers enjoy a honeymoon period, said John Santos, data scientist with Janet Brown Opinion Research. But it appears that for now, many Albertans perceive that a key figure during past economic crises is the appropriate person for this moment of U.S. tariffs and economic upheaval. "If Albertans are going to be warm to any federal Liberal leader, one who comes from big business from that right flank of the federal Liberal party is going to be one of the Liberal leaders that, if they don't like more, will at least dislike less," Santos said. Conservative voters in Alberta are still predominantly more impressed by their own leader — and since there are far more of them, Poilievre's impression scores pull roughly even with Carney. However, four in 10 Conservative voters give Carney either a high or moderate score, as opposed to fewer than one-quarter of Liberals doing the same for Poilievre. "He was viewed favourably in Conservative circles before he came out as a partisan," Lalh says of Carney. "He was sort of seen as technocratic, well respected, helped to navigate the financial crisis." Conversely, 82 per cent of Liberal voters said they were highly impressed with Carney, compared to 68 per cent of Conservative voters who expressed that same sentiment about Poilievre. It might be chalked up to how polarizing each leader is. When Lalh would knock on doors of Conservative supporters, they tended to dump on the Liberals but not much on their new leader. When he visited Liberal doors, he'd more often get an earful about Poilievre. "Carney was fresh enough at the doors anyway that the people who were not particularly fans of Poilievre had a positive reason to vote for the Liberals," Lalh said. As for himself, Lahl said he appreciates how Carney has signalled he wants to address Alberta's concerns about getting its natural resources to market, but added: "I am reserving judgment until I see if he can walk the walk." Given that this survey measures how impressed Albertans are with the respective leaders, part of the lower score for Poilievre among his own partisans may have to do with voters being unimpressed his Conservatives lost, and that he lost his own seat, Santos noted. (Winning, of course, impresses more than losing does.) But it appears from this poll that Carney has a reservoir of goodwill among even Albertans who didn't vote for him. Smith has cautioned that while Carney's words and direction have impressed her, she's keen to see action on her priorities from the Liberals. It's those next steps that could determine whether Albertans sour on Carney like they did with his predecessors, or if they have finally found a Liberal leader they can get behind. The CBC News random survey of 1,200 Albertans was conducted using a hybrid method between May 7 to 21, 2025, by Edmonton-based Trend Research under the direction of Janet Brown Opinion Research. The sample is representative of regional, age and gender factors. The margin of error is +/- 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For subsets, the margin of error is larger. The survey used a hybrid methodology that involved contacting survey respondents by telephone and giving them the option of completing the survey at that time, at another more convenient time, or receiving an email link and completing the survey online. Trend Research contacted people using a random list of numbers, consisting of 40 per cent landlines and 60 per cent cellphone numbers. Telephone numbers were dialled up to five times at five different times of day before another telephone number was added to the sample. The response rate among valid numbers (i.e. residential and personal) was 12.8 per cent.
