PoliticsThe federal Liberal government announced Thursday changes to the justice system that are intended to keep some offenders locked up for longer as Ottawa tries and drive down crime rates. Ottawa making dozens of changes designed to make bail more difficult to get John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Oct 23, 2025 12:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe federal Liberal government announced changes to the justice system Thursday that are intended to keep some offenders locked up for longer as Ottawa tries to drive down crime rates.The new legislation, C-14, makes dozens of targeted changes to the bail and sentencing framework in the federal Criminal Code, something victims’ rights advocates, police unions and some provincial premiers have long been demanding.Those demands came amid an uptick in violent crime over the last decade or so — although crime rates were down slightly last year as the country recovers from a post-COVID surge.The changes announced by Justice Minister Sean Fraser are designed to make bail more difficult to get. They include the creation of new so-called “reverse onuses,” which means detention is the default option and it’s up to a bail seeker to demonstrate why they should not remain behind bars while they await trial.These new reverse onuses will apply to people charged with violent or organized crime-related car theft, break and entering, trafficking in persons or human smuggling, assault, sexual assault that involves choking, strangulation or suffocation and extortion involving violence.Greater scrutinyThe government is directing the courts to carefully scrutinize the bail plans of people accused in these reverse onus cases to make sure their pitches to get out of jail are “reliable and credible,” according to a backgrounder on the bill.The legislation also clarifies the “principle of restraint,” which, under legislation passed by the last Liberal government, requires judges release some people charged with a crime on bail at the “earliest reasonable opportunity” and with the “least onerous conditions.”Now, when considering bail, courts and the police are being directed to “not release an accused when it is against the public interest or when detention is needed to protect victims or witnesses,” according to a government official who briefed reporters on C-14.The bill directs courts to also consider some specific factors when deciding on whether to release someone, including whether the allegations involved random or unprovoked violence — a change designed to keep more of those offenders behind bars, given the higher risk to public safety. These proposed tighter bail laws come amid some high-profile criminal acts.Earlier this year, Bailey McCourt, a Kelowna, B.C., woman, was allegedly murdered by her ex-husband just hours after he was released on bail for assault.The man convicted of murdering Ontario Provincial Police Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala in December 2022 was also out on bail at the time of that crime, despite facing a long list of charges related to other incidents, including assaulting a peace officer.And when it comes to sentencing convicted criminals, the government is asking courts to take a harder line for repeat and violent offenders so that the guilty spend more time in prison.Plus, the bill introduces consecutive sentences — which would see people serve one sentence after another instead of serving sentences for multiple offences at the same time.That means, for example, a defendant sentenced to two consecutive terms of three years will serve a total of six years in prison — the first three years for the first offense, followed by three more years for the second.New aggravating factors would also apply to crimes against first responders, retail theft, and theft or mischief that harms essential infrastructure — changes designed to lead to harsher sentences.The bill also ends house arrest for certain sexual assault and child sexual offences. ABOUT THE AUTHORJ.P. Tasker is a journalist in CBC’s parliamentary bureau who reports for digital, radio and television. He is also a regular panellist on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics. He covers the Conservative Party, Canada-U.S. relations, Crown-Indigenous affairs, health policy and the Senate. You can send story ideas and tips to J.P. at jp.tasker@cbc.caFollow J.P. on X
Carney government gets tougher on crime with proposed bail regime changes
