Carney says bail reform bill coming next week, RCMP getting money to boost pay for cadets

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says his Liberal government has learned lessons when it comes to access to bail and is preparing to undo some measures from past governments, including his predecessor’s.

Carney appeared in Etobicoke, Ont., on Thursday as part of his pre-budget tour to announce the forthcoming bill, which he says will make it harder for violent, repeat offenders to access bail.

“We work closely with law enforcement, with municipalities, with provinces, and we take the lessons from what’s happening in the streets, in our communities, in our cities, and we’re making changes,” he told reporters.

“So yes, there are things that are being changed from measures that previous governments had put in place, but that’s the right thing to protect Canadians, and we will continue to do that.”

During the spring federal election, the Liberals campaigned on amending the Criminal Code to make it tougher for certain accused to access pre-trial release.

While the Canada-U.S. relationship took centre stage, next to cost-of-living anxieties, concerns over crime emerged as a significant issue during the federal race, particularly across the Greater Toronto Area, with the rise in car thefts a particular worry.

Many premiers and mayors have also called on Carney’s government to tighten access to bail.

Several high-profile incidents involving individuals out on bail have led to political backlash over the handling of the regime, including from Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whom Carney was set to meet later Thursday.

Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has seized on crime as a central issue and blamed the Liberal government for adopting a relaxed approach when it came to bail and sentencing.

Carney said on Thursday that Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser will table a bill when the House of Commons returns next week that will seek to make bail harder for those accused of certain violent crimes.

They include violent auto-theft, extortion that includes violence or violent threats, assault and sexual assault, human trafficking, smuggling, violent auto-theft, and break-and-enter.

Carney says those accused of these crimes would be kept off the streets through the expansion of reverse onus bail provisions, which means someone accused of a crime must prove to a court why they ought to be released, instead of the responsibility falling to a Crown prosecutor to prove why they ought to be detained.

The Liberals last expanded the use of reverse onus provisions in December 2023, when a package of bail reform measures passed in Parliament that toughened access to bail for repeat offenders accused of certain weapon and firearms offences, as well as those accused in cases of intimate partner violence.

At the time, civil liberties advocates and groups representing Indigenous and Black populations said the measures risked leading to more legally innocent and marginalized people finding themselves behind bars and exacerbating the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in correctional facilities, which had been an issue that former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government tried to address.

Criminal justice experts and advocates have long said Canada struggles with having too many legally innocent people behind bars.

Conservative justice critic Larry Brock, who is himself a former Crown prosecutor and has met with Fraser, said that until the Liberal government is prepared to repeal a principle it legislated through a 2019 bill known as C-75 that sought to ensure courts and police favoured releasing an accused at the earliest chance, the Liberals’ latest reforms would be unsuccessful.

“That is a line in the sand,” Brock told National Post in an interview Thursday.

“The Carney Liberal government could make reverse onus provisions for every single charge in the Criminal Code, and it is not going to make a difference.”

While the federal government had said the “principle of restraint” was legislated in accordance with decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada, Brock argued there was no explicit direction from the court to change the Criminal Code as it did.

“If that is not repealed, if it is not amended to reflect community safety as a priority, we are still going to have a lack of trust, and we are still going to have a catch-and-release revolving door mentality in our criminal justice system.”

Carney said on Thursday that his government would follow the direction from the Supreme Court and said the proposals being announced were subject to consultations with police, premiers, and stakeholders.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which represents mayors and local governments from across the country, welcomed Carney’s announcement to toughen bail access.

“ Local police are repeatedly arresting the same individuals, emergency services are stretched thin, and residents are feeling the impact,” Rebecca Bligh, a Vancouver city councillor and president of the advocacy group, said in a statement. 

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw called the changes an “important step” towards enhancing community safety, saying in a statement the service has long advocated for reverse onus provisions when it comes to violent offences and those tied to organized crime.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said it strongly opposes the bail and sentencing changes.

“There is no evidence that bail causes crime,” said Shakir Rahim, the director of the organization’s criminal justice program. “In fact, some of the offences the Prime Minister singled out to restrict bail by reverse onus have been dropping for years…”

Carney announced on Thursday that his government would also toughen sentences for repeat offenders accused of home invasions, organized crime, and auto theft.

Other changes include allowing consecutive sentences for violent and repeat offenders, as well as reversing course on allowing those convicted of sexual assault to serve a conditional sentence, which was a change ushered in under Trudeau.

That change was part of a law, known by its legislative title of Bill C-5, that sought to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black populations, repeal mandatory minimum sentences, and allow more offences to be served through conditional sentences.

Carney, in his prepared remarks, said the forthcoming bill would end the practice of allowing someone convicted of sexual assault to serve their sentence at home, which he said could mean doing so in the same community as their victim.

“This is not justice,” Carney said. “If you commit sexual assault, you will serve your sentence in a correctional facility.”

A news release from the Prime Minister’s Office says the upcoming budget will also send the RCMP $1.8 billion over the next four years to help bolster its federal policing mandate and increase the weekly pay RCMP cadets receive to $1,000, up from the current $525 allowance.

The government also said it wants to hire 1,000 new RCMP personnel, which was a previous commitment it made.

Brian Sauve, president and CEO of the National Police Federation, the union representing RCMP members, welcomed the pay increase for cadets, saying it had long advocated for a higher allowance to put the Mounties on a similar footing with municipal police services.

“This investment removes a major financial barrier for new recruits and will help the RCMP continue to attract top-tier candidates in a highly competitive labour market,” he said in a statement. 

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