Pierre Poilievre and several Conservative party MPs joined together today to demand a change in bail legislation to prevent repeat offenders from being released onto the streets.
The Conservative leader blamed Prime Minister Trudeau for the rise in violence in Canada, saying the perpetrators are people who have committed multiple offenses, but are granted bail.
We are calling on the Trudeau government to reverse its failed bail system, the system that Trudeau brought in that allows violent criminals and repeat offenders to get out on bail and re-offend over and over again. We're not talking about a young person who makes a mistake at 19 or 20, we're talking about people who have committed 15, 20 offenses and are re-arrested, for the same charges and then released to re-offend. Police officers assure us that is why crime has exploded under the Trudeau government, that is why we are demanding that he correct the damage he has done. But if he doesn't, we have MP Frank Caputo, a former prosecutor, here to introduce legislation to repair the damage caused by Trudeau's policies.
According to Toronto police, there were 44 shooting-related homicides in the city in 2022, in which half of the accused were on firearms or other weapons-related bail at the time they allegedly committed the crime.
MP Frank Caputo, explained what the reform that has just been submitted to parliament will consist of, namely Bill C313, which creates a stricter bail regime for repeat offenders of serious firearms offenses.
In short here is what the law says: if a person is prohibited from possessing a firearm for offenses under the criminal code, such as robbery, possessing an illegal weapon, homicide, the most serious offenses, or if a judge decides to impose such a prohibition to keep Canadians safe and that person commits or attempts to commit another serious firearm offense, then a new bail regime will apply that will make it more difficult for that person to be released.