However, the CCLA added, those statistics are in fact unavailable. So the association is also urging the federal government, with input from the provinces and territories, to collect the necessary data, the press release stated.
“Claims that access to bail drives crime are false, and no government has provided evidence that shows otherwise,” the CCLA said.
Director of the CCLA’s Criminal Justice Program Shakir Rahim stated: “As we told the federal Justice Minister in a meeting with him last month, thousands of people every year receive bail and are not charged with an offence on release, yet they are erased from the debate.”
“Bail is being denied at record levels. Seventy-two per cent of people in provincial and territorial prisons are denied bail, up from 59 per cent percent in 2015. Meanwhile, charges for some offences often cited in calls to restrict bail are falling. Break-and-enter charges are down 11 per cent since 2020 and 30 per cent since 2010. Motor vehicle theft charges are down 10 per cent since 2020 and 27 per cent since 2010.”
In their announcement of the proposed legislation, Poilievre and the Conservatives paint a radically different picture.
“Under the Liberals, our cities have been taken over by criminals released time and time again under easy bail laws. The consequences of their reckless policies are real: violent crime is up 55%, firearms crime is up 130% and extortion has skyrocketed by 330% across Canada,” the Conservatives said in a statement.
“This crime crisis is one of the Liberals’ own making with their catch-and-release policies,” said member of Parliament for Oxford and Conservative National Outreach Chair Arpan Khanna. “Conservatives are offering Carney the opportunity to do what is right and tip the scales of justice back in favour of innocent Canadians.”
The Conservative bill will, according to the press release:
- “Repeal and replace the Liberal ‘Principle of Restraint’ with a directive for the primary consideration to be the protection and safety of the public;
- Introduce a new ‘Major Offences’ category with reverse onus bail conditions for firearm, sexual, kidnapping, human trafficking, home invasion, robbery, extortion, arson and assault charges;
- Strengthen bail laws by mandating judges consider an accused’s full criminal history, prevent anyone convicted of a major offence in the last 10 years while also on bail and charged with a major offence from getting bail, and toughen the risk assessment standard from ‘substantial likelihood’ to ‘reasonably foreseeable’;
- Prohibit anyone with an indictable conviction from acting as a guarantor (who ensures bail conditions are followed), require judges to enforce bail conditions on guarantors and require non-residents to surrender their passports upon request.”
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