‘Enough Is Enough’: Ford Calls for Federal Bail Reform Following OPP Officer’s Death

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks at the legislature in Toronto on Sept. 4, 2022. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Dec. 29 echoed the words of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Thomas Carrique by calling for certain reforms to the federal justice system, particularly regarding bail applications, when commenting on the recent death of an on-duty OPP officer.

“Too many innocent people have lost their lives at the hands of dangerous criminals who should have been behind bars—not on our streets,” Ford said in a statement.

“Enough is enough. More must be done to fix a system that is far too often sacrificing the safety of our public and police officers instead of cracking down on the perpetrators who repeatedly commit these heinous crimes.”

Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala was a rookie police officer making his first solo call on Dec. 27 when he was shot and killed.

One of the suspects in Pierzchala’s murder, 25-year-old Randall McKenzie, is a repeat offender who  was out on bail and was also under a lifetime firearms prohibition from two previous court orders in 2016 and 2018. However, the handgun allegedly used in the attack had its serial number removed.

A warrant had already been issued for McKenzie’s arrest after he failed to show up at a court appearance in September for charges laid in 2021 consisting of several firearms offences and assaulting a peace officer.

Ford’s call for justice system reform came shortly after Carrique told the press he was “outraged” that one of Pierzchala’s suspected killers was out on bail.

“The officer was ambushed and stood absolutely no chance of being able to defend himself,” he said on Dec. 29. “Something needs to change.”

Carrique emphasized the need for the justice system to ensure that police officers have safer environments in which to work by making it harder for criminals to be released on bail.

“Our police officers, your police officers, my police officers, [and] the public deserve to be safeguarded against violent offenders who are charged with firearms-related offences,” he said.

“I’m outraged by the fact that McKenzie was out on bail and was provided the opportunity to take the life of an innocent officer. And I know that there’s a lot of interest in ensuring to see that changes are made to ensure, where possible, people who are charged with violent offences that are firearms-related are not in those positions moving forward.”

‘Principle of Restraint’

Bill C-75, passed in June 2019, made bail easier to get by legislating a “‘principle of restraint’ for police and courts to ensure that release at the earliest opportunity is favoured over detention.”

The government’s backgrounder on the bill said one of the main reasons for changing bail laws was an “overrepresentation of Indigenous persons” in federal prisons—a point re-emphasized by Justice Minister David Lametti after another piece of legislation, Bill C-5, passed into law in November.

Bill C-5 amended the the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to remove 20 mandatory minimum sentences for mostly drug and gun crimes, such as charges related to “weapons trafficking” and “possession for purpose of weapons trafficking.”

Referring to drug possession crimes, Lametti told the Senate legal committee on Sept. 21 that “you couldn’t have a conditional sentence order for an indigenous mother who was caught in very low level of trafficking in order to put bread on the table.”

“That’s the kind of social problem that needs to be attacked at its root, and we’re trying to do that here,” he said.

The Canadian Press and Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.