Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the Liberal government’s three fall crime bills — tougher bail, longer and consecutive sentences, and new hate-crime and coercive-control offences — are a direct response to public concern about safety, rejecting claims the package is about political positioning against the Conservatives.
‘People have been loud and clear’
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government put a heavy emphasis on stricter crime policy in the fall sitting, tabling three justice bills packed with Criminal Code amendments — a sharp swing from the Trudeau era, even if Fraser avoids the “tough on crime” label.
“I’ll leave it to others to characterize what’s tough or not tough, but we are increasing penalties for serious and violent criminals and making it harder for people to be released on bail if they pose a risk to public safety,” Fraser said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press. “It is that simple. People have been loud and clear. They want the federal government to change the criminal law to ensure that they are protected.”
Fraser said Canadians are demanding action on car thefts, home invasions, sexual offences, hate crimes and the exploitation of children. “It’s not the Conservatives I’m trying to get help with; it’s Canadians that we’re trying to deliver help to.”
What the three bills would do
The package began in September with Bill C-9, the hate crime bill. It would create new offences of obstruction and intimidation aimed at protecting places of worship and institutions used by identifiable groups, and make it a crime to wilfully promote hatred through the use of hate symbols.
Bill C-14, tabled in October, would make bail harder to obtain for offences including some vehicle theft, extortion and human trafficking, imposing a reverse onus so the accused must justify their release. It would also allow consecutive sentences — so multiple sentences could not be served at once — for repeat violent offences, vehicle theft, breaking and entering, extortion and arson.
Bill C-16, introduced just before the House rose for the holidays, would treat killings driven by control, hate, sexual violence or exploitation as first-degree murder, defining them as femicide when the victim is a woman. It would create an offence for coercive or controlling behaviour against an intimate partner, prohibit the non-consensual distribution of intimate deepfake images, restore mandatory minimum penalties struck down by the courts with a judicial safety valve, and require courts to consider remedies other than stays to reduce cases being tossed over delays.
Critics, and the price of Bloc support
Critics expect Charter challenges, particularly to the bail law, and warn the delay provisions could violate the right to a trial within a reasonable time. University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach called the changes “some of the most significant changes in criminal justice that I’ve seen over my 35-year-plus career,” while noting the government has not fully explained the philosophy behind them. “It may be good politics, but I’m not sure it’s good in the longer-term interest of the criminal justice system,” he said.
In a minority Parliament, the Liberals need another party’s support. For Bill C-9, that support came at a price: the Bloc Québécois won Liberal agreement to remove the religious-text exemption from hate speech law. Fraser rejected claims this would criminalize faith. “When I see some of my parliamentary colleagues suggest that this will criminalize faith or somehow prevent a religious leader from reading the texts that are sacred to them, nothing is further from the truth,” he said, adding the decision rested with a Commons committee and he was willing to support the change if it secured the bill’s protections.
Fraser said what separates the Liberal approach is investment alongside enforcement: support for police and victim organizations, mental health and addictions programs, affordable and transitional housing, and initiatives for at-risk youth. The gamble largely paid off — Bill C-14 received royal assent in June 2026 as the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, and Bill C-9 became law on June 18, 2026, with provisions in force July 18.
