Conservative MPs talk bail reform at Winnipeg town hall

ManitobaDozens of members of the public turned up to talk about bail reform Sunday at a town hall led by Manitoba MPs in the federal Conservative caucus. Liberals have tabled Bill C-14 to restrict bail access and impose tougher sentencesDave Baxter · CBC News · Posted: Oct 27, 2025 8:31 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesLarry Brock, an Ontario-based MP and former prosecutor spoke in Winnipeg on Sunday at a town hall focused on the issue of bail reform (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)Dozens of members of the public turned up to talk about bail reform Sunday at a Winnipeg town hall led by Manitoba MPs in the federal Conservative caucus.The event, at Gateway Recreation Centre in North Kildonan, came days after the governing federal Liberals tabled Bill C-14 to restrict bail access and impose tougher sentences.On Sunday, Conservative MPs made the case to Manitobans that their “Jail Not Bail Act” is a better alternative.“Resoundingly, everybody has been asking for one thing, and that’s for the federal government to wake up to the reality happening in our communities,” said Larry Brock, an Ontario-based MP and former prosecutor who previously served as the assistant Crown attorney in Brantford, Ont.“For the last four-plus years we have heard from premiers from every province and territory, we have heard from police chiefs, we’ve heard from mayors from all sizes of communities across the country, including your Mayor Scott Gillingham,” added Brock, who serves as the Conservative shadow minister for justice and attorney general of Canada.“We’ve heard from presidents of police associations, we’ve heard from victim advocacy groups all telling the government to do one thing — exercise your number one responsibility, which is to keep Canadians safe.”Brock was joined at Sunday’s event by Manitoba Conservative MPs James Bezan, Colin Reynolds, and Raquel Dancho.One of the issues talked about was the principle of restraint, which, according to the Justice Canada website, requires that courts, where appropriate, “consider release at the earliest opportunity over detention and that only reasonable bail conditions be imposed on the accused, depending on the risks they pose.”Dozens of members of the public turned up to talk about bail reform Sunday at a town hall led by Manitoba MPs in the federal Conservative caucus. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)The new bill put forward by the Liberals clarifies that police and courts will be directed on how to apply the principle, that it does not “mandate release” and that an accused “should not be released if their detention is justified, including for the protection and safety of the public.”“So this bill does not even come close to what Jail Not Bail would do,” Brock said. “Jail Not Bail would repeal the principle of restraint, take away that instruction, take away that mandatory directive, and replace it with the presumption of public safety and protection.”Unless the principle of restraint is repealed, Brock said he has little faith the Liberal’s new crime bill will achieve its goals.“They said they were listening to all the stakeholders and they finally understood what the problem was, so I was deeply disappointed when I had a chance to read C-14 to learn that the principle of restraint is still alive and well,” he said.The new legislation also makes a swath of target changes to the bail and sentencing structure of Canada’s Criminal Code.The changes were announced by federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser on Oct. 23, and target violent and repeat offenders.Among the changes is the creation of new “reverse onuses,” meaning detention would be the default option and it would be up to someone seeking bail to show why they shouldn’t be in jail while awaiting trial.Reverse onuses, if passed by Parliament, 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.The legislation also proposes new aggravating factors —those that may increase someone’s sentence.They would apply to crimes against first responders, organized retail theft, and offences for interfering with essential infrastructures — copper theft as an example — and repeat violent offenders with a previous conviction for a violent offence within five years.Winnipegger Ramandeep Grewar speaks at Sunday’s town hall. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)On Oct. 21, Gillingham told a parliamentary committee the number of crimes involving breach of bail, probation and similar court orders in Winnipeg went up for a third year in a row in 2024, citing figures from the city’s police service.Gillingham said Winnipeg recorded 5,561 crimes related to breaches of release conditions last year — a nine per cent increase from 2023 — and the upward trend has continued through 2025.Winnipegger Ramandeep Grewar said he attended Sunday’s town hall because he is concerned about crime in the city, but will reserve judgment on Bill C-14.“It will only be evident once we see the results of that,” he said. “Probably it’s a step forward, but once we have the data out, then it will be more evident if that is working or not.”He also called on politicians from all sides to work together more to improve public safety across the country.“I think the situation warrants that they sit together, behind the Parliament scenes, and come up with some common solutions.”ABOUT THE AUTHORDave Baxter is an award-winning reporter and editor currently working for CBC Manitoba. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he has also previously reported for the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press, as well as several rural Manitoba publications.With files from Gavin Axelrod and Graham Sceviour-Fraehlic