QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Justice
Repeat Offenders
May 28, 2026
It is nice to see you again, minister.
Retail crime has surged over the past decade, costing businesses more than $9 billion nationwide and putting workers and consumers at risk. Just last week in the Greater Toronto Area, police made over 65 arrests and laid more than 500 charges against repeat offenders in a targeted operation against organized retail theft.
Yet, your government sends mixed signals: You claim to be restoring tough-on-crime measures while introducing “safety valve” provisions that weaken them and rejecting common-sense proposals to strengthen bail and penalties for repeat offenders.
Minister, why do you continue to weaken the consequences for repeat offenders while law-abiding Canadians and small businesses pay the price?
With enormous respect, senator, I would disagree with your characterization of the agenda.
Of course, the bail and sentencing reform act introduces some of the most serious changes that strengthen the Criminal Code’s response to violent and repeat offenders that have taken place in Canada over decades now.
When you mention retail crime, I point you to two specific items. Of course, treating as an aggravating factor organized retail crime in Bill C-14 as well as specifically on bail, asking courts to consider not only the seriousness of an offence but the number of offences with which an accused has been charged and convicted of in the past. This would include widespread retail crime that is having very serious impacts on our downtowns.
With respect to the so-called safety valve, one of the reasons we’ve taken this approach, which I believe strengthens the Criminal Code by restoring mandatory minimums with some judicial discretion, is because it follows not only the guidance of the court but, in fact, the messages that have been put on the record in public by the Conservative Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois and the Liberal government.
By understanding that we can work together through submissions that have been made — in this case, by the Conservative’s public safety critic, MP Frank Caputo, who has been a terrific partner to work with on matters of intimate partner violence — we find that we can move forward in a way that will not only restore mandatory minimums that have been struck down but, in fact, protect those provisions that remain on the books, which have constitutional vulnerability as a result of the historic precedent of the Supreme Court striking down measures that have been found unconstitutional on the basis of having absolutely no discretion under any circumstances, despite the fact that penalties could be grossly disproportionate.
Minister, you have served in a cabinet that, over the past decade, has presided over the erosion of confidence in our criminal justice system.
Why should Canadians now accept your claims of being “tough on crime” when they are living with the consequences of policies you helped advance?
Canadians would do well not to simply trust the claims of elected officials, including me, my colleagues in government or any government. Instead, I would ask them to independently review the proposals that are being put into our legislation. You’ll note that, not only when it comes to bail and sentencing, but also when it comes to gender-based violence, sexual exploitation of children online and in the real world, as well as hate legislation, we are moving forward with one of the most rigorous public safety agendas that this country has seen in decades.
What’s more, you can look to those who have validated the approach we have taken. If you’re concerned about public safety, I would point you to the commentary offered by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Association of Ontario and law enforcement from Canada’s big cities, including that of my hometown, the New Glasgow Regional Police.
