Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier is upping his efforts to tackle crime through reform of Canada’s bail system.
Mazier has dedicated a significant amount of his parliamentary work to promoting legislation, which gets tough on crime and draws attention to what he says is an increase in crime under the current Liberal government.
“The reality is that violent crime has increased by 32 per cent since Justin Trudeau took office,” Mazier said. “Violent repeat offenders are being released on bail because of the prime minister’s catch-and-release policies and now Canadians see the disastrous result.”
Mazier has spent the last year focusing his work on addressing crime, through meetings with law enforcement, initiating community townhalls, launching petitions, and opposing the government’s Bill C-5, which removed mandatory minimum sentences for multiple offences.
Now he is going one step further by working to change the law and formally adding his name to bills C-325 and C-313.
Bill C-325 seeks to reform Canada’s Criminal Code by creating a new offence for criminals who violate parole conditions. Pierre Paul-Hus, the Conservative MP who authored the legislation, highlighted the story of Myles Sanderson, who murdered 10 people in Saskatchewan in multiple knife attacks.
Despite being charged with 59 crimes before the murders, Sanderson was released on conditions.
Paul-Hus says a criminal like Sanderson should have never been on the streets, but the current legal system made it possible.
Additionally, Bill C-325 would require probation officers to report violent criminals who breach their release conditions, an action that is currently not required.
“Canadians are fed up with a failed justice system that allows dangerous repeat offenders to serve their sentences from the comfort of their home. One day a criminal is arrested, and the next day they’re back on the streets committing another crime,” Mazier said. “This isn’t fair to communities, and it’s certainly not fair to victims.”
The local MP is also working to pass additional bail reform laws by jointly seconding Bill C-313, which would amend the Criminal Code and result in a greater burden being placed on repeat offenders to justify why they should be granted bail.
By eliminating the wording that someone must pose a “substantial” likelihood to re-offend in order to be denied bail and replacing it with a ”minimal” likelihood to re-offend, the threshold for detention would be lower.
Mazier plans to continue his efforts in tackling crime by working with all members of the House of Commons to pass the bills.
