Overview
- The legislation will expand reverse-onus bail so more accused in serious and repeat-offence cases must show why they should be released.
- Courts would be permitted to impose consecutive sentences on violent and repeat offenders, and conditional sentences would be curtailed for certain sexual offences.
- The package includes new penalties targeting organized retail theft and a plan to hire 1,000 RCMP personnel backed by $1.8 billion over four years, including a higher cadet allowance.
- Federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers met in Kananaskis and engaged national Indigenous organizations as they discussed bail, sentencing and policing priorities.
- British Columbia’s attorney general urged stronger safeguards for intimate-partner violence, Conservatives called the plan insufficient and pressed to repeal the principle of restraint, and the government said it expects the measures to withstand Charter challenges.