Feds to table bill with tougher bail, sentencing provisions in fall: Fraser

The government will consider including additional reforms but "at minimum" will implement the crime policies the Liberals promised during the spring federal election, Fraser said.

The Liberal government will table a bill this fall introducing stricter bail conditions and sentencing for some crimes, particularly those involving organized crime, human trafficking, home invasion and car theft, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said in an interview.

“It’s perhaps obvious, given the tenor around the criminal justice system, that reforms are in order,” Fraser told The Canadian Press.

The government will consider including additional reforms but “at minimum” will implement the crime policies the Liberals promised during the spring federal election, Fraser said.

Fraser was named justice minister by Prime Minister Mark Carney in May, following an election campaign which saw Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blame the Liberals for a wave of violent crime.

In their campaign platform, the Liberals in turn promised to make bail more difficult to get for some offences, including car thefts involving violence or organized crime, home invasions, and some human trafficking and smuggling offences.

They also promised tougher sentencing guidelines for repeat car thieves and violent and organized crime, and to allow for consecutive sentencing for some cases of car theft and for serious and violent offences.

Fraser said some parts of the country have seen an increase in certain kinds of criminal activity.

“Auto thefts, though they may be down in the GTA this year compared to last, we have seen a trend where it was becoming a bigger problem,” he noted, adding some of that was driven by organized crime.