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'We have to toughen up': Premiers expect Ottawa to table bail reform legislation this fall
最近，加拿大人越來越不安。偷車、入室、暴力襲擊甚至人口販運愈演愈烈，而許多罪犯卻在“抓了又放”的保釋製度下輕鬆脫身。這一切，終於讓全國各省的省長們忍無可忍！
在本周三召開的聯邦理事會閉幕記者會上，加拿大各省省長公開向總理馬克·卡尼（Mark Carney）施壓：“我們需要真正的保釋改革，把罪犯關在監獄裏，保護社區的安全。”
上周，卡尼透露，保釋改革將是未來議程中的一部分，相關立法將在秋季出台。
各省省長齊聲施壓：必須強硬！
安省省長道格·福特（Doug Ford）在周三的新聞發布會上強調：“我們會在保釋改革問題上追責到底。”
福特表示，盡管他“非常尊重”卡尼，並相信他會“完成這項任務”，但他批評聯邦政府上一次的保釋改革舉措“不痛不癢”，沒起到實際效果。這次他希望看到的是“真正的全麵改革”。
“我們必須強硬起來，”福特說道。“不能讓那些踹門而入、持槍威脅、恐嚇街坊鄰裏的罪犯，第二天就被放出來。”
“我們需要強製性量刑。偷車、入室，就必須承擔相應的懲罰，否則他們隻會一犯再犯。”他補充道，“老百姓已經受夠了。我從未見過人們如此沮喪和不滿。”
福特指得是聯邦政府曾於2024年對《刑法》中有關保釋的條款進行了修訂，加強了對嚴重暴力慣犯和親密伴侶暴力風險的監管。但各省省長認為，這些措施仍不夠，他們希望恢複強製性最低刑期。
薩斯喀徹溫省省長斯科特·莫伊（Scott Moe）呼籲對毒品販子加重刑罰：“毒品是當今眾多社會問題的根源。過去十年形勢發生了變化，我們必須修改《刑法》以應對這些變化。”
BC省省尹大衛（David Eby）強調改革必須進一步防範親密伴侶暴力：“這是我們一直在努力推進的工作，但歸根結底，在刑事司法係統方麵，我們還得依賴聯邦政府的協助。”
新不倫瑞克省省長蘇珊·霍爾特（Susan Holt）則對卡尼的承諾表示“感到鼓舞”，並希望立法草案能在秋季國會會議中提出：“現在就靠聯邦政府了。”
保釋製度改革背景回顧
2019年，時任司法部長大衛·拉梅蒂（David Lametti）通過了C-75號法案，旨在解決司法係統的延誤問題，並減少原住民和弱勢群體（包括成癮者）在監獄中的過高比例。
2022年，拉梅蒂又通過了C-5號法案，取消了部分槍支和毒品相關罪行的強製性最低刑期，允許更多的有條件判決，並對簡單持有毒品的案件提供替代處理機製。
值得一提的是，拉梅蒂與卡尼是大學時代的密友，目前擔任他的首席秘書。
加拿大保守黨領袖博勵治（Pierre Poilievre）誓言要廢除上述兩項法案，批評其造成了“抓了就放”的保釋製度，讓罪犯反複出現在街頭。
如今，好人提心吊膽，壞人肆無忌憚......加拿大人真的已經受夠了！
卡尼說，秋天就出手。可你相信這一次，真的能改好嗎？
- https://nationalpost.com/news/mark-carney-premiers-bail-reform-legislation
'We have to toughen up': Premiers expect Ottawa to table bail reform legislation this fall
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canadians can expect his government to table bail reform legislation in the fall, and premiers will be holding him to his word.
At the closing press conference of the Council of the Federation on Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is ending his term as chair, said Carney heard from premiers that they need “real bail reform that keeps criminals behind bars and keeps our communities safe.”
“We will be holding him accountable on bail reform,” insisted Ford.
Carney vowed in the last election, which saw the Liberals elected to a fourth term, to “toughen the Criminal Code and make bail laws stricter for violent and organized crime, home invasions, car stealings and human trafficking,” especially for repeat offenders.
The need to restrict access to bail to curb car theft and home invasions has been raised consistently by premiers and police chiefs, particularly in Ontario, but Liberals have truly made it a priority after they lost seats in the Greater Toronto Area due to crime issues.
Carney spent Monday evening and part of the day Tuesday with the premiers during their summer retreat in Ontario’s cottage country. He said last week bail reform would be one of the elements on the agenda and that legislation on it would be coming in the fall.
Ford said Wednesday that while he has “a great deal of respect” for Carney and believes the prime minister is going to “get it done,” the federal government’s last attempt at bail reform was “kind of pokey-pokey” and he wants a “full-fledged bail reform” this time around.
In 2019, former Justice Minister David Lametti passed Bill C-75, which was meant to address delays in the criminal justice system and help reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous and vulnerable populations, including people with addictions, in prisons.
Three years later, Lametti passed Bill C-5, which removed mandatory minimum sentences for certain offences related to firearms and drugs, and allowed for more conditional sentences, and established alternative measures for simple drug possession offences.
Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have vowed to repeal both laws, which they say have contributed to a “catch-and-release” bail system which lets criminals back on the streets.
Lametti, a close friend of Carney since university, is now acting as his principal secretary.
In an attempt to respond to the criticism, the federal government presented some amendments to the Criminal Code’s bail regime, that were passed in 2024, to address serious repeat violent offenders and address risks posed by intimate partner violence.
But the premiers said they want to see mandatory minimum sentences restored and much stiffer penalties for repeat offenders and criminals involved in drug trafficking.
“We have to toughen up,” said Ford. “We can’t release people the next day after they kick people’s doors in, put guns to people’s head, terrorize the neighbourhood, terrorize families … and then they go to some weak-kneed judge that lets them out.”
“We need mandatory sentences. You steal cars, you break into people’s homes, there has to be a penalty, or they just keep repeating and repeating the offence,” Ford added.
“People are just fed up. I’ve never seen people more frustrated, ever.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe insisted on the need to “greatly stiffen the sentence” for criminals who are bringing in “poisonous drugs into our communities across Canada.”
“Drugs are very much the scourge of many of the social problems … that we’re having,” he said Wednesday. “It has changed over the last decade, and we need to change the Criminal Court of Canada to address the changes that we’re seeing in our communities.”
“If there was a Criminal Code of Saskatchewan, we would have made those changes already,” he said.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he wants to make sure that any future bail reform from the federal government will act further to prevent intimate partner violence.
“It’s been an ongoing piece of work for us, but at the end of the day, in terms of the criminal justice system, we do look to the federal government for assistance,” he said.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said she was “encouraged” to hear from Carney that his government is working on that piece on legislation now and that it is “in the works.” She said is was also her hope that legislative changes be introduced in the fall session.
“The ball is in the federal government’s court.”
National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com
