An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sentencing)

Bill C-364 (44-1) was a Conservative Private Member's Bill from Blaine Calkins (Red Deer-Lacombe) to change Criminal Code sentencing with rural crime in mind. It would have added, as an aggravating factor at sentencing, evidence that an offence targeted people or property made vulnerable by long emergency-services response times or by their remoteness from those services or from an established community. For certain offences it would also have treated carrying, using, or threatening to use a weapon or an imitation weapon as an aggravating factor. The bill answered long-standing concerns from rural and farm communities, especially in the Prairies, that slow RCMP response times leave isolated properties exposed. It received first reading on November 9, 2023, stayed outside the Order of Precedence, and did not advance. The Library of Parliament notes that roughly five percent of Criminal Code private member's bills reach royal assent.