It wasn’t that long ago that Manitoba was helping lead the charge in Canada to see bail laws reformed. Fueled by concern and outrage over violent crimes that seem to take place daily by individuals who are out on bail for other violent actions, there has been an overwhelming call by Canadians for a change to bail laws in Canada.

During the last provincial election, Manitoba’s NDP government told voters that it didn’t need the federal government to strengthen bail and that it could be done provincially. This despite the fact that bail is under the federal Criminal Code, which only the federal government can change. Nearly two years after the Manitoba election and the provincial NDP now seem to have thrown up their hands and are admitting they can’t make meaningful changes without the federal government. But in the meantime, they stopped any real work in getting those laws changed in Ottawa.

There was some advancement to better bail laws made in the spring of 2023 when the federal government agreed to make it harder for repeat violent offenders who commit crimes with weapons to get bail. While this was a welcomed change, and one that was pushed for by Manitoba during my time as Minister of Justice, it didn’t go nearly far enough.

It followed years of significant changes to legislation by the federal Liberal government to make bail easier to obtain. Liberal legislation like Bill-C75 put in law the principle that bail should be granted with the least onerous restraints possible. This was coupled with Liberal legislation that repealed mandatory minimum sentences for many offences involving drugs and firearms.

And, increasingly, Canadians, law enforcement and elected officials are expressing their frustration with what is simply called a catch and release style of justice where offenders are back on the street before police have finished the paperwork. With each random violent attack and each robbery conducted by an individual on bail or having an outstanding warrant, the public frustration grows.

While many Canadians were hoping that the need for tougher bail laws would be a major discussion in the last federal election, many important domestic issues were drowned out over concerns over our relationship with the United States. And yet, the calls for reform continue. Two weeks ago, this was voiced forcefully by Ontario Premier Doug Ford who demanded that new Prime Minister Mark Carney make good on a promise to make our country safer.

One of the suggestions that was made prior to the election by national representatives for law enforcement was a provision that would make it harder for someone who has demonstrated a repeated pattern of violent behaviour or criminal behavior over a distinct period of time to obtain bail. These and other ideas have to be part of the discussion, and it is incumbent upon the Prime Minister to move much more quickly on this file than the former one did.

And for the Manitoba NDP, which ran on taking bail into their own hands and then quickly washed their hands of it, they need to pick up the mantle that they dropped when elected and again help Manitoba be a leading advocate for making bail more just and our communities safer.