Hoback backs province on need for bail reform

By Rob Mahon

Violent repeat offenders are released on bail too often, according to the federal opposition and several provincial governments which have brought their complaints to Ottawa.

“We’ve had a lot of stuff that we had in place beforehand repealed,” said Randy Hoback, Member of Parliament for Prince Albert. “For example, when you look at Bill C-5, we used to have mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes. All of a sudden the Liberals got rid of that.”

Bill C-5 was passed in November of last year. Hoback said that will only continue a disturbing trend. Nationwide, violent crime is up (by four per cent from 2020-2021), and gang-related murders are up 92 per cent in the last eight years.

“If you want to fill a hall for an issue, this is one issue you can talk about is crime, or rural crime with repeat offenders,” said Hoback. “You’ll have four or five hundred people showing up with stories.”

Hoback said he often hears complaints on this subject from constituents in Prince Albert. The Prince Albert police reported an increase in violent crime in 2022, and Prince Albert was ranked third in the country in violent crime rate among communities bigger than 10,000 people.

“People have been basically attacked for a dollar,” said Hoback. “We’re definitely seeing issues here. Then, of course, the serious, drug-related gang crimes around the area are something that need to be talked about and addressed.”

Blaming the Liberal government for a soft-on-crime stance, and for making criminals out to be victims, Hoback said the policies are having dangerous consequences for people in his riding.

“They’ve put in policies that allow these people to be charged, then put out on bail, then they’re back on the street the next day continuing to terrorize the person the day before who got them in trouble,” said Hoback. “People are saying they want to see these dangerous offenders dealt with.”

At the provincial level, Saskatchewan has joined other provinces in calling on the federal government to institute bail reform for repeat violent offenders. On March 14, it released a look at new bail policy for provincial crown prosecutors, including this note: “When a repeat violent offender is charged with an offence against a person or involving a weapon, Crown Counsel must seek that person’s detention unless they are satisfied, having regard to all the circumstances, that the risk to public safety posed by the accused’s release can be reduced to an acceptable level by bail conditions.”

“It’s not just us and it’s not a partisan issue,” said Hoback. “It’s something that all levels of government have been complaining about, and it’s about time the Liberal government started listening to some of the solutions that the provinces brought forward and identifying that their policies are not working.”