Justice plan stolen from Conservative playbook: Jackson

Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Grant Jackson says the Liberal promise to hire more RCMP officers and toughen bail and sentencing standards for violent crime steals from the Conservative playbook and lacks a concrete plan.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the party’s intention to table legislation next week that would make bail more difficult to get for a half-dozen violent and organized crime offences and allow for consecutive sentences for violent and repeat offenders.

“The rubber is really going to have to hit the road here for the Carney government and see if they can deliver on some of these nice words that they’ve been putting forward since he was elected prime minister in April,” Jackson told the Sun from Ottawa on Friday.

Part of Carney’s announcement included a plan to hire 1,000 new RCMP officers, with 150 of them to focus on financial crimes, the prime minister said at a press conference in Etobicoke, Ont.

“What we didn’t see yesterday from the prime minister is, is he boosting grad class sizes at Depot (Division) in Regina? Where is he going to find these recruits? What are the new recruitment initiatives that his government is unveiling?” Jackson asked, adding the Conservatives do support expanding resources to the national police service.

“It’s great to say that you’re going to allocate funds for 1,000 new RCMP positions, but those positions are going to sit vacant if you don’t actually have a recruitment strategy.”

Jackson blamed the former Justin Trudeau Liberal government for the current bail regulations and problems with repeat offenders.

But the Liberals’ proposed new bill, he said, doesn’t go “far enough” because it would only allow for consecutive sentences to be imposed, not made mandatory.

“Their proposed bill, although we haven’t seen it, would only allow for consecutive sentences for violent crimes, which is already the case in lots of situations,” he said.

The Conservatives have already tabled bills that would make consecutive sentences mandatory for some repeat violent crimes.

The Liberal plan would also mean people accused of major crimes would have to argue for their right to be released from custody while awaiting justice proceedings. That’s in reverse from current laws, where people accused of major crimes are given bail unless prosecutors can successfully convince the court that the person is a risk.

Jackson said that’s also taken from the Conservative playbook.

“We just don’t understand why he didn’t pass the bill when he had the opportunity to do so,” he said.

“We had a motion in front of Parliament a number of weeks ago to fast-track Bill C42, the Jail Not Bail Act. And if the liberals had voted in favour of that, the reverse-onus provision would already be in effect or would be further through the legislative process. Instead, they voted against that, and now they’ve introduced their own bill weeks later that does the same thing,” he said.

“I find that very unfortunate. If they were going to do this anyway, they should have just passed our bill.”

Federal Conservative justice critic Larry Brock said Carney’s announcement is a “half-baked attempt to copy-paste the Jail Not Bail Act.”

“You can’t put a criminal only halfway in jail; halfway measures won’t end the scourge of crime and disorder in our communities,” the Ontario MP said in a news release.

Until the Liberals submit the bill, Jackson said he won’t be able to support it.

“We don’t think this goes far enough, but, you know, I do hope that there will at least be a little bit of an improvement should this bill proceed,” he said. “But the devil will be in the details when we actually see the bill before Parliament, hopefully next week.”

If he could change something from Carney’s announcement, it would be making consecutive sentences for violent repeat offenders mandatory, particularly for sexual assaults, he said. Specific provisions for hiring RCMP officers should also be added.

“People have a pretty low tolerance for repeat violent offenders. The public that I talked to are fed up with the situation as it is and they are adamant that change needs to happen and happen quickly.”

Carney, on Friday, made another announcement related to safety and security, this time pledging to hire 1,000 more Canada Border Services Agency officers.

The Sun also reached out to Riding Mountain MP Dan Mazier, but he wasn’t available for an interview.

» alambert@brandonsun.com