Liberals’ New Bail Reform Bill Doesn’t Change Current ‘Catch-and-Release’ System, Says Poilievre

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a news conference in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Mar. 12, 2023. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre says the Liberal government’s newly introduced legislation aimed at reforming Canada’s federal bail policies will not solve the current issue of violent, repeat offenders being released back into society before serving their entire prison sentence.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on May 16, Poilievre said the Liberal government’s tabled Bill C-48 does not “raise the bar” of requirements to be met before criminals can be released on bail, but only introduces “a bunch of lower bars  underneath the bar that is already there.”

“They have not reversed catch and release,” Poilievre said, later adding that the proposed legislation “does not guarantee that a repeat violent offender who is newly charged with a violent crime would stay in jail until the sentence is completed.”

The Liberal government’s Bill C-48 proposes a number of changes to the Criminal Code that includes adding a clause that would “create a new reverse onus for serious repeat violent offending involving weapons” where the accused had been convicted of a similar offence within the past five years.

Another proposed change would expand the current reverse onus for firearms convictions to include other indictable offences such as unlawfully possessing a loaded or restricted weapon and robbery to steal firearms.

The bill also proposes a change to the Criminal Code that would require courts to consider an accused person’s violent criminal history and community safety record when making bail decisions, along with adding clarification to the Criminal Code for the “meaning of prohibition order for the purpose of an existing reverse onus.”

Criticism and Defence

Poilievre criticized the bill for not proposing Criminal Code changes addressing recent situations where criminals on bail have repeated similar offences, citing the death of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala as an example.

Pierzchala was shot and killed in late December 2022 while responding to a routine call about a vehicle in a ditch near Hagersville, Ontario.

Randall McKenzie, the primary suspect who was charged with first-degree murder in Pierzchala’s death, was out on bail at the time. He was also prohibited from owning firearms by court orders issued in 2016 and 2018.

Poilievre said McKenzie would’ve still been out on bail even if the new provisions proposed in Bill C-48 had been in place at the time.

The Conservative leader also referenced the case of Myles Sanderson, who was one of the suspects accused of killing 10 people during a stabbing spree at several locations around the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan in September 2022.

Sanderson had been granted parole seven months earlier.

Federal ministers defended Bill C-48 after introducing it on May 16, with Justice Minister David Lametti saying it will respond to “the challenges posed at the bail stage by repeat violent offending.”

“We know this law reform is only part of the solution,” Lametti added in a news release. “We are working closely with our colleagues across all levels of government to ensure that people are safe and feel safe wherever they live in Canada.”

Andrew Chen contributed to this report.