Opponents of the bill cited recent polling that 70 % of Canadians supported capital punishment and called on the government to call a national referendum on the issue . Other opponents accused Allmand and Trudeau of proposing the bill now so that it would not expire before the next federal election in 1979 and risk costing the Liberals votes . Almost all opponents thought that the death penalty was a necessary response to terrorism , insurrection , and other serious crimes . Former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker argued that after the Munich massacre , passing Bill C-84 was sending the wrong message in the lead-up to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal . In response to the calls for referendum , including a motion for a national plebiscite by Alberta MP Gordon Towers , Allmand argued that the role of MPs was to deliberate in the House of Commons , make up their own minds , and then vote . He also argued that representative democracy necessarily excluded plebiscites , because then it would open the door to plebiscites on a variety of serious and controversial issues
Munich massacre
Munich massacre
Warren Allmand