Do we need bail reform?

Do we need bail reform?

October 17, 2025 · 46 min · Season 4

About this episode

The episode discusses the need for bail reform in Canada and examines the justice system's effectiveness in relation to violent crime.

Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party says Canada's justice system is broken, and that overly lax bail laws are leading to preventable violent crime. Prime Minister Mark Carney seems to agree. But are they misdiagnosing the problem? In this episode, we take a look at the state of our corrections system, what's not working, and what can be done about it. Althia is joined by Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, and Melanie Webb, chair of criminal justice section of The Canadian Bar Association to discuss. Then we compare public sentiment around crime to the actual statistics with Statistics Canada's Warren Silver and Abacus Data CEO David Coletto. Finally, Jinny Sims, a former NDP MP and MLA, and the current morning host at Radio Swift, talks about a growing extortion problem in the South Asian community, and how her radio station was shot at after she spoke out. This episode of "It's Political" was produced by Althia Raj and Kevin Sexton, and mixed by Sean Pattendon. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from Parl Vu, CPAC, Global, CTV and the Winnipeg mayor's weekly bulletin.

People in this episode

Host: Althia Raj

Guests: Tom Stamatakis, Melanie Webb, Jinny Sims

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Canadian Police Association, The Canadian Bar Association, Radio Swift, Statistics Canada, CPAC, Global, CTV, Winnipeg mayor's weekly bulletin

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