Tories push Liberals for bail reform
Concerns over surge of transit, street violence
• Conservative MPS pressed the Liberal government to toughen up bail rules for repeat violent offenders Thursday, pointing to the killings of five police officers and a surge of violence on public transit.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre cited “staggering anecdotes of people being hit in the face with ice picks on transit stations or doused in flammable liquids and lit aflame” and “random attacks on strangers on the streets of Vancouver and Toronto.”
Poilievre said the five police officers killed in the past five months were “murdered in some cases by multiple offenders who were out on early bail.”
The Conservatives introduced an opposition motion Thursday calling for bail reform. In a debate in the House of Commons, they cited a January letter from provincial and territorial leaders asking the government to implement stricter rules.
Conservative MP Raquel Dancho said “Canadians across the country are growing increasingly alarmed by the violent crime wave impacting every major community and in rural communities across the country.”
Justice Minister David Lametti said he is in talks with the provinces and territories. He said the discussions began in October but that he will be convening an emergency meeting shortly.
“In the coming days, I will be reaching out to justice and public safety counterparts to convene an urgent (federal-provincial-territorial) meeting to continue our important work on bail,” he said. “I’m hopeful that together we can review the product of months of joint work by federal and provincial officials and agree on a comprehensive path forward.”
The most recent of the police officer killings was on Dec. 27, when Ontario Provincial Police constable Grzegorz Pierzchala was shot and killed. Pierzchala had just completed his 10-month probationary period and was killed on duty by an alleged shooter who was out on bail, had a warrant out for his arrest and was on a lifetime firearms prohibition.
In recent weeks, Canada has also seen a surge of violent attacks on public transit in a number of cities. In Toronto alone, a woman and a 16-year-old boy were stabbed in two separate incidents, a bus driver was shot with a BB gun, and two transit employees were chased by a person with a syringe, among other incidents. Also in Toronto, a retired CBC Radio producer died from complications a week after a random assault, and a group of teenage girls has been charged in the murder of a man in a swarming attack.
Lametti accused the Conservatives of “using tragedies to try to score political points” and that there are no “quick fixes” to a complex issue. He said it’s important measures don’t worsen the overrepresentation of Indigenous, Black and racialized people in Canada’s jails, or “further marginalize vulnerable people including those struggling with mental health issues and addiction.”
Poilievre cited numbers from British Columbia that said “the same 40 offenders had 6,000 negative interactions with police in one year.” He said “the same repeat offenders are committing, in many cases, dozens and dozens of offences.”
Dancho said there were 44 murders by shooting in Toronto last year, and 24 of those offenders were out on bail. “If our bail system was a little bit tougher on repeat violent offenders, 24 people would still be alive.”
The Conservatives took aim the Liberal criminal reform bill C-75, which they said has made it too easy for offenders to get bail since it came into effect in 2019, and asked for aspects of the law to be repealed. The Liberals argued the bill didn’t make any significant changes to the bail system and instead codified conditions set out in binding Supreme Court of Canada rulings.
They also in turn criticized tough-on-crime laws put in place by the previous Conservative government. “I can’t help but reflect on the fact that there have been at least three, that I know of, pieces of legislation brought in by the former Harper government with mandatory minimum sentences that have been struck down by the court,” Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen said.
NDP MPS pointed out the House of Commons justice committee has agreed to study the issue.
NDP MP Charlie Angus said there is also a need to “put the resources on the ground to deal with the clear mental health and homeless crisis that’s driving a lot of the senseless violence that we’re seeing in the city of Toronto.”
Lametti agreed an existing problem with homelessness and mental health has been made worse by the cold weather, which drives people to the warmth of the public transit system. “We’re working on that with the provinces,” he said.