“What is your confidence level we actually see bill C-48 move forward?”
“I think it’ll pass. I can’t see the Conservatives voting against it – as David Lametti has said, it’s the best they’re going to get. So if they don’t vote for it, then that’s obviously going to be spun against them as them being soft on crime, not willing to act within the bounds of the constitution. Similarly the NDP is not going to win any political points by saying this is unconstitutional because the national discourse right now is about violent crime and about bail and repeat offenders – is not going to win them any votes…”
“What are your thoughts on the reverse onus provision here?”
“In some circumstances it does make sense. We see reverse onuses already in place in situations involving people who are breaching a bail condition… I don’t think this as actually doing very much.”
“This will only apply to people who have a prior conviction for violence involving a weapon, in the last 5 years.”