Perhaps the biggest advantage Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney has right now is the fact that he doesn't go by Justin Trudeau's name. We are, of course, not the first to say this. In fact, this point was made in a Globe and Mail column just this week.
But there's really no other way to explain the rather lukewarm reception given to Carney's announcement on Thursday regarding proposed tougher bail and sentencing standards that actually do little more than expand on the 2023 Trudeau-era legislation – Bill C-48 – which received Royal Assent on January 4, 2024.
Previously, the Liberal bill would amend the bail provisions of the Criminal Code to, among other things, create a new retroactive opus to combat serious repeat violent gun offenses, expand the retroactive opus to target repeat offenders of intimate partner violence, and expand the list of firearms offences. weapons that entail reverse liability.
Prime Minister Mark Carney visits an RCMP detachment and announces “bail reform.” Carney received widespread praise, or at least support, for the reforms, which only reversed measures introduced by his predecessor. (Canadian Press)
It also required courts to consider a defendant's violent conviction history when deciding whether to grant bail, and required courts to state on the record of any bail decision that they considered the safety of the public “in connection with the alleged crime” for the sake of public accountability.
About six months after the bill took effect, a National Post article noted that the new rules appeared to be going nowhere.
“Toronto police announced Tuesday they had made 124 arrests in a crackdown on car thieves,” the National Post reported in June 2024. “Of these, the agency noted, 44 percent were on bail at the time of arrest, and 61 percent of them were immediately released on bail again.”
The law's political failure became apparent last year when local politicians, including Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Justice Minister Matt Wiebe, called on the federal government to implement further bail reform measures.
With the Liberals still vulnerable to “soft” attacks on crime from the Conservative opposition, Carney is no doubt hoping to change the channel somewhat when it comes to how Canadians view the party on the issue. Moreover, he wants to remind Canadians that he is not Justin Trudeau, whose very name sparks anger and resentment in many western provinces and small-class Conservative circles.
In fact, Carney suggested Thursday that his predecessor had been too soft on crime. So, months after promising to do so last spring, Carney announced Thursday that his government would introduce legislation that would make it harder to get bail for a half-dozen violent and organized crime crimes, including violent carjackings, breaking and entering, human trafficking, assault and sexual assault, and extortion.
There were other parts of Carney's announcement, including a plan to toughen penalties for organized retail theft and end suspended sentences for sexual assault. Carney also announced a plan to hire 1,000 new RCMP officers. To be fair, this latest plan is a good idea, but problematic given the fact that the RCMP's recruitment efforts have already faced significant obstacles over the past five years as the force has faced reports of systemic racism and harassment that have undermined those efforts.
But the main focus of Carney's planned legislation, he explained, is to expand on Trudeau's idea of retroactive liability, under which people accused of serious crimes must assert their right to be released from custody while awaiting trial.
And yet, because it comes from Carney and not Trudeau, local bail reform advocates here in Brandon this week praised the idea.
One of the strongest advocates for bail reform, Progressive Conservative MP Brandon West Wayne Balkaen, told the Sun he hoped the legislation would become a reality “and take away a lot of the pressure from the courts, the police and, most importantly, the public.”
Brandon City, Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) said he particularly noted this aspect of Carney's proposal, calling it “probably the best part of what I've seen today.”
“For people who are repeat offenders, I think it will be more difficult to convince a judge that they should be released on bail based on previous actions,” Luebke told the Sun.
Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett, who has also called for bail reform, praised the Liberals for their list of proposals and said he believes the federal government is “listening to municipalities.”
The city's top cop, Brandon Police Chief Tyler Bates, said the changes appear to be in line with what the public wants. He said the reforms “are a step in the right direction and reflect what many in law enforcement and the public have been calling for – a more balanced justice system that places greater emphasis on public safety.”
Even Kinew expressed cautious optimism about Carney's announcement, saying he was “encouraged.”
“I hope this makes a difference,” Kinew said. “But I am fully aware that when we talk about safety, there is still a lot of work to be done.”
The term “bail reform” has become a political buzzword these days—one that can be heard from politicians of all political stripes. But the proposed liberal law falls short of truly tougher restrictions that bail reform advocates are calling for. And it's important to remember that under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms a person still has the right not to be deprived of a reasonable bail without reasonable cause.
In the grand scheme of things, Carney's changes are just small changes to an existing program. And since Carney lacks much of Trudeau's baggage, his announcement was hailed as a miraculous improvement when in fact it was not.
Carney is simply building on an idea that was not his, but rather the deeply unpopular Liberal prime minister he replaced.
Politically, he may be able to change the channel—at least for now. Only time will tell whether these proposed changes will make it through the House of Commons and ultimately lead to any meaningful change.
