Prime Minister Mark Carney said the proposed amendments are related to bail for those accused of serious and violent crimes.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government will move ahead with promised bail reforms next week, through new legislation amending the Criminal Code.
Mr. Carney made the announcement Thursday, saying the proposed amendments are related to bail for those accused of serious and violent crimes.
Premiers, police and families of crime victims have been calling for changes to the criminal justice system for years, arguing that the current rules around bail act as a revolving door for repeat offenders.
The amendments will include allowing for consecutive sentencing and restricting conditional sentences for some sexual offences, plus new penalties for organized retail theft.
Conservatives will introduce a bail reform bill this fall, Poilievre says
The government will also introduce what’s known as “reverse-onus bail” for more crimes. That’s the practice of requiring an accused to demonstrate they should be released from custody, as opposed to the prosecution being required to make the case as to why they should remain.
“In Canada, you should be able to wake up, get in your car, drive to work, come home and sleep soundly at night,” Mr. Carney said in a press release.
“When laws repeatedly fail to protect those basic rights, we need new laws.”
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made bail reform a centrepiece of his agenda. His party tabled its own legislation to address the issue as a private member’s bill last month.
Mr. Carney also announced Thursday that in his government’s next budget there will be $1.8-billion over four years for the RCMP to increase its federal policing capacity and raise the cadet recruitment allowance to $1,000 a week.
The budget is scheduled to be tabled on Nov. 4.