The federal government says it has delivered the toughest changes to Canada\u2019s bail and sentencing laws in a generation. Conservatives say the job is only half done.<\/p>\n
Conservative Members of Parliament gathered outside the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan in Regina on Wednesday to criticize Bill C-14, the federal Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, as most of its provisions officially came into force.<\/p>\n
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Speaking alongside Regina MPs Warren Steinley and Michael Kram, Regina-Qu\u2019Appelle MP, Andrew Scheer, said the Liberal government is trying to convince Canadians that it has solved the country\u2019s bail problems while leaving key policies unchanged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest takeaway from today\u2019s message is that while the rhetoric has changed, while the government is running ads claiming using your tax dollars to run ads telling you that they\u2019ve solved the problem, they have kept on the books the very Liberal laws that caused the problem in the first place,\u201d Scheer said.<\/p>\n
Bill C-14 received royal assent on June 15. Most of its bail and sentencing provisions took effect on July 15. The legislation includes more than 80 targeted changes to the Criminal Code, Youth Criminal Justice Act and National Defence Act, including tougher bail rules for repeat and violent offenders and stronger penalties for several serious crimes.<\/p>\n
Scheer argued judges should once again place greater emphasis on protecting the public when deciding whether repeat violent offenders should remain in custody before trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had the presumption of innocence, but also courts that take into account when you\u2019ve got dangerous, violent, repeat offenders \u2013 people who have long rap sheets of serious convictions, that public safety has to be taken into account,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also rejected suggestions that tougher sentencing laws would increase prison populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw with the previous Conservative government that when we increased penalties, it had an effect on crime rates. Crime rates went down when criminals knew they were going to spend serious time in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arpan Khanna, Conservative MP for Oxford and the party\u2019s critic of the Minister for Justice and Attorney General of Canada, argued that repeat offenders continue to cycle through Canada\u2019s justice system because bail laws remain too lenient.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s jail by day, bail by night, and it\u2019s the same people over and over again,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n
Khanna cited Statistics Canada figures while arguing violent crime has increased under Liberal governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese criminals are being emboldened by the Liberal policies because they know there are no consequences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also pointed to an example from Kelowna, B.C., claiming 15 repeat offenders were responsible for 1,400 crimes in a single year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou put them behind bars for being repeat violent offenders. That crime stat goes down, and that\u2019s what our focus is going to be on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larry Brock, the former Conservative justice critic, said the government is overstating what Bill C-14 accomplishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe illusion and the narrative that Mark Carney and Sean Fraser, his justice minister, are spreading across the country is misleading. It\u2019s false. It is wrong,\u201d Brock said.<\/p>\n
Brock acknowledged the legislation makes changes but argued it does not fully undo previous Liberal bail reforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey reformed bail. Everything was working fine pre-2015 until this Liberal government came into power, and now after 11 years, they are chipping away slowly at the harm and the chaos that they have created over 11 years,\u201d Brock said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re saying it\u2019s not enough. Community safety should never be a partisan issue. This Liberal government has made it so.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement provided to 980 CJME and 650 CKOM following the news conference, the office of Justice Minister Sean Fraser defended the legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada\u2019s new government promised stricter bail and tougher sentences. As of today, those commitments are now law,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWith over 80 targeted changes to the Criminal Code, bail will be harder to get for repeat and violent offenders, and sentences will be tougher for serious crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister\u2019s office also accused Conservatives of delaying the legislation while it moved through Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor months, Conservatives delayed and obstructed measures that victims, survivors, law enforcement, premiers, mayors, and communities across the country have been calling for, trying to own these issues at the expense of real action.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement added that the federal government \u201cwill continue to move with urgency to strengthen Canada\u2019s laws and keep Canadians safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Department of Justice, the reforms expand reverse-onus bail provisions for several serious offences, strengthen penalties for crimes including organized auto theft, extortion and home invasion, and add new aggravating factors during sentencing for offences committed against first responders and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government says it has delivered the toughest changes to Canada\u2019s bail and sentencing laws in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-811817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}