Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
The federal Liberals have proposed more than 80 changes to the Criminal Code to toughen bail and sentencing laws, in a long-awaited bill tabled today in Parliament by Justice Minister Sean Fraser.
David Ebner, Laura Stone and Colin Freeze report that the government described the changes as “sweeping reforms to make bail laws stricter and sentencing laws tougher for repeat and violent offending."
Key changes include making it harder to get bail for a list of crimes such as breaking and entering a home, and assault and sexual assault involving choking. The latter is known to be a factor in predicting future violence.
Bill C-14, called the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, would also require the courts to consider, when weighing bail or detention, whether an accused person engaged in random or unprovoked violence.
The government also proposed consecutive sentences for breaking and entering, violent auto theft and several other crimes.
Fraser also promised further action, saying measures in the coming months will be aimed at sexual and intimate partner violence, and the safety of children.
This is Ottawa’s third swing at bail reform in seven years, after a promise on the campaign trail during the spring federal election. This round is the result of widespread political pressure from diverse sources, including the NDP provincial government in British Columbia to the federal Conservatives. Polls show Canadians are also strongly supportive of stricter bail laws, regardless of age or political leaning.
In other news, the federal government will provide an additional $2-billion toward construction of the first nuclear reactor planned for Canada in more than three decades. Matthew McClearn reports that Prime Minister Mark Carney announced today that the Canada Growth Fund, a $15-billion federal investment fund, will buy an equity stake in the project.
Half of the $2-billion will be spent on the plant’s first reactor; the other half is earmarked for subsequent reactors planned at the site. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
The Ontario government contributed $1-billion through its Building Ontario Fund.
In a speech today, the Prime Minister said the investment “will extend Canada’s world leadership in clean energy, to make us the first in the G7 to have a new kind of nuclear reactor.”
Justice Minister Sean Fraser speaks during a press conference in Ottawa, on Thursday.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
What else is going on
India invites Carney to visit: “We want an early visit of the Prime Minister to India,” India’s new High Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Patnaik told The Globe and Mail in an interview.
Black Global Affairs staff allege systemic racism: Current and former Global Affairs Canada employees who are Black say the department doesn’t take their complaints about racism seriously.
Alberta minister meets with B.C. First Nations: Alberta’s Indigenous Affairs Minister is in Kitimat, B.C., this week, but said she is not there as an ambassador for the proposal floated by her government to lead an application for a major new oil pipeline to the West Coast.
Saskatchewan vows drug-addiction supports: The fall sitting of the Saskatchewan legislature began this week with Premier Scott Moe’s government promising new rules to get tough on drugs and help those battling addictions.
Canada to double non-U.S. exports, Carney says: The Prime Minister says his government’s fall budget will pledge to double exports to non-U.S. markets over the next decade, shift the focus of Canada’s climate and immigration policies and make spending cuts to boost investment in major projects.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: In the Ontario community of Bowmanville, Mark Carney announced the federal government will invest $2-billion to support the construction of four small modular reactors at the Darlington New Nuclear Project. Ontario Premier Doug Ford also attended the news conference and announced financial support. Carney said he would be speaking to Quebec Premier François Legault today. Later, in Toronto, Carney was scheduled to attend a Blue Jays practice.
Party Leaders: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held a news conference on Parliament Hill. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s schedule included a breakfast roundtable assembling leaders from Canada’s philanthropic and charitable sectors with federal policymakers, and later attending Question Period. Interim NDP Leader Don Davies spoke at a Hungarian flag-raising event in Ottawa in honor of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and later attended Question Period. No schedule was released for Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet.
Canadian Dairy Commission chairperson: Jennifer Hayes, a third-generation farmer from Quebec, has been reappointed as chairperson of the Canadian Dairy Commission, for an additional four-year term, says Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald.
Wright visitation: A visitation has been scheduled in Toronto on Friday for Nigel Wright. The onetime chief of staff to former prime minister Stephen Harper died of heart failure last month, aged 62.
Kinew in Toronto: Saskatchewan Premier Wab Kinew is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech tonight in Toronto at an Empire Club event. He will also participate in a fireside conversation moderated by David Herle, host of The Curse of Politics and The Herle Burly podcasts.
Quotes of the day:
“I’m going to be sitting in my man cave because I am not paying, whatever, 1,500 bucks for a ticket, and, by the way, those ticket gougers? They’re going to pay the price. We’re going to get to them.” - Ontario Premier Doug Ford, at a news conference in Bowmanville today, with Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaks about viewing Blue Jays games.
“It’s going to go deep. It’s going to be a great series. But we’ve got depth. We’ve got fire. You see the performance. It’s going to be fantastic. ... I’ll be in Asian man caves for some reason. I’ve got the worst-timed trip.” - Prime Minister Mark Carney, following Ford in speaking about Jays games, referring to his plans to depart Canada on Friday for a three-country trip to the Indo-Pacific region that concludes on Nov. 1.
Question period
Who was prime minister when the Toronto Blue Jays played their first game?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
There is a constituency in the Conservative Party for Poilievre’s antics, which is really the problem
A common explanation for the increasingly strident statements Mr. Poilievre has been making of late – claiming foreign workers are taking jobs from Canadian youth, declaring the country’s cities are a “war zone,” insisting the Nazis were socialists– is that he is focused on ensuring he wins enough votes of party members to survive the leadership review at the party’s January convention. But what does it say about his grip on the leadership that he is so beholden to the party’s most extreme elements? And what does it say about the state of the party that the extremists appear to be in control?
— Andrew Coyne, Columnist
The Liberals still have a nagging political weakness on crime
Some of Mr. Carney’s campaign strategists thought they were probably going to win a majority government on election night in April – but the party fell short of expectations in Ontario. Concerns about crime probably weren’t the biggest driver of that shortfall, but it was a factor. Voters see the Liberals as poor at crime policy.
— Campbell Clark, Chief Political Writer
Canada needs to rein in spending. How about we stop handing out billions to wealthy seniors?
Tightening OAS eligibility is of course a terrible political move for a Prime Minister who owes his win to Boomers who trusted him to preserve their status quo, but it is a necessary move for a Prime Minister – or anyone, frankly – who can recognize that it is patently insane to keep handing out billions of dollars to wealthy seniors in this economic environment. If Mr. Carney is indeed “completely focused on getting our economy back on track,” he will ignore the political noise, and do it.
— Robyn Urback, Columnist
Go deeper
- Follow along for our stories on Canada-U.S. relations as news develops
- Get the latest insight and analysis from our political opinion writers
- Take a look at the history of immigration reporting and great political scandals from A Nation’s Paper, a book about The Globe and Mail’s role in Canadian history
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The answer to today’s question: Pierre Elliott Trudeau was prime minister in 1977 when the team played their first game. Trudeau was prime minister from 1968 to 1979, and then again from 1980 to 1984.