‘Dangerous people who commit serious crimes should not expect to be released on bail’ – Justice Minister Sean Fraser

In February of this year, we wrote at length on Bill C-14, the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, which reforms Canada’s bail and sentencing laws, including changes to reverse-onus provisions, bail conditions, sentencing factors, and restrictions on house arrest, to increase public safety.
The bill received Royal Assent on June 15, officially passing into law. The majority of the changes and stricter measures will officially come into force on July 15.
There was local input on Bill C-14 on a couple of levels.
Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton, who sits on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, put forth an amendment that was included in the final bill, although not without some tweaking.

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‘The dream of home ownership should always be within reach’ – St. Thomas homebuilder Doug Tarry

“We’re not so much in a housing crisis; we are in an affordability crisis.”

That was the observation this week from Rob Flack, the province’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

He was speaking Monday afternoon at Geerlinks Home Hardware, as he toured several of the outlets in Elgin-Middlesex-London with Home Hardware President and CEO Ian White (second from right in the photo below).

For the St. Thomas stop, they were joined by Mayor Joe Preston and homebuilder Doug Tarry.

Flack continued, “And everybody knows that things are expensive in this world these days. Everything has gone up in price, especially housing.

And when that happens, people put their thumb on the pause button, Number 1.

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