Well it is back in the news once again. A word that politicians keep kicking around and pointing fingers at one another in order to shift blame for this horrible word to the shoulders of the opposite parties.
Is it one of the seven words you can’t say on television, in the immortal words of George Carlin, American comedian of outstanding insight. No, it isn’t one of those long ago bantered words. It is much worse, it is the word bail!
Brad Hunter in the Toronto Sun’s web page on 22 October, 2024 recounts the case of Kassidy Ballantyne-Holmes murder at the hands of one Keith Savile with an illegal firearm, a person the single mother did not know. It didn’t state if Mr. Savile was out on bail, but something sure got the attention of Premier Doug Ford.
Mr. Hunter in his article recounts how our Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau, sent out a tweet on “X” following this incident which stated:
“Two years ago today, we froze the handgun market and stopped handguns from being bought, sold or transferred anywhere in Canada. We choose your safety over the gun lobby — every time.”
Now today I saw on the national television news an ongoing questioning of our federal Justice Minister, Arif Virani, about bail after our Premier called for increased restrictions, yet again! Mr. Virani, in keeping with the finger pointing, kept blaming justices of the peace in Ontario for accepting the bail applications, overcrowding of the jails and lack of legal training for Justices of the Peace, being a Provincial responsibility.
As Mr. Hunter recounts in his article:
“When detectives arrest these guys, they are almost always given easy bail even though they’re often ALREADY on bail. And then they allegedly commit more crimes”.
Wait a minute! Wasn’t it the Feds who passed Criminal Code amendments requiring Justices of the Peace to take into consideration all kinds of virtue signalling categories which required that they accept bail applications, even when serious criminal offences are involved?
Even though it is close to Halloween we won’t open that spooky door of who is on that magic list of bail considerations due to their origin or heritage or social circumstances. It has been well documented in, of all places, our justice system.
Police associations and departments got onto “X” immediately following Mr. Trudeau’s tweet and pointed out the error in his statement which was, no doubt, sent out with a smirk on his face and provided statistics to back up their concerns. He is dead wrong, or, so they claim.
There is no doubt that our bail system needs a revisit. The Justice Minister rightly points to overcrowding in provincial jails and problems with the administration and appointment of Justices of the Peace, which fall under Provincial jurisdiction.
However, finger pointing and virtue signalling are not the answer. It requires a deep consideration of the problem, clear and insightful thinking and a mature approach to the subject based on the facts and evidence available.
But, then I remembered who we are talking about here. The same people who refused to listened to the facts and failed to accept the evidence presented before hypocritically virtue signalling by passing Bill C-21.