The Conservative 'jail, not bail' slogan is driven by harmful political grift

Last month, we got a sneak peek at the kind of “justice reforms” a Pierre Poilievre Conservative government might unleash on Canada. For years now, right-wing politicians have been hammering away at the justice system, insisting that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have somehow let loose a tidal wave of crime and chaos like he’s Canada’s answer to The Joker. But Poilievre has taken it to another level, cranking up the rhetoric and – let’s be honest – massively oversimplifying things. He’s been loudly and misleadingly promising to throw constitutional rights under the bus with the Charter’s notwithstanding clause if that’s what it takes to “stop the crime” and serve up “jail, not bail” for violent offenders – as if fixing crime is as simple as slapping a hashtag on it.

Provincial Conservatives, especially here in Ontario, are eagerly buying what Poilievre is selling, doubling down on justice narratives so misleading it’s almost impressive. It takes a special kind of politician to stand up and claim that bail is somehow a free-for-all when, in reality, more people than ever are being denied bail and crammed into pre-trial custody conditions that feel like they were designed by someone who looked at Dickensian prisons and thought, “Hmm, maybe a bit too soft.”

So, it was no surprise when Ontario’s Conservative Ford government rolled out a batch of justice “reforms” that would fit right into Poilievre’s little black book of bad ideas.

Ontario’s plan includes reviving mandatory minimum sentences – a proven failure that the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled unconstitutional. Then there’s the proposal to eliminate bail for individuals charged with offences like murder, human trafficking, and domestic violence offences, as well as for repeat offenders, effectively automatically locking people up before a court even has a chance to find them guilty. And if that weren’t enough, any time those offenders spend in pre-trial custody, which will be significant given our court delays, wouldn’t count toward their final sentence because Ontario thinks a little extra punishment – whether you’re guilty or not – is just what we need.

Minimum sentences have long been a hobgoblin of the Conservative mind: a simplistic policy, easily digestible and sold to the public. However, minimum sentences are an ineffective and dangerous justice tool. They do not deter crime. They do not increase public safety. They disproportionately affect Indigenous and other racialized Canadians. And they are costly. But this isn’t breaking news – you can check my back catalogue.

But the fascination with bail? Now that’s a new Conservative grift.

Let’s be clear: eliminating bail for entire classes of alleged offences is unconstitutional – a fact made even worse if that pre-trial jail time doesn’t count toward any sentence. And that’s just the tip of the injustice.

As a starting point, terrorists and murderers are rarely granted bail. If you’re accused of murder, your best shot at bail is to make sure you’re a cop. And even civilians accused of murder can be innocent. Remember when Ford publicly condemned Umar Zameer’s bail as “completely unacceptable” without knowing a single fact about the case? Zameer, accused of murder, fully complied with his strict bail conditions, and guess what – he was exonerated.

One of the biggest predictors of trial outcomes is release on bail. It’s almost impossible to prepare for trial or mount a real defence when you’re locked in pre-trial detention, cut off from family, lawyers, and any chance of a fair trial. And people in these torturous pre-trial conditions are much more likely to plead guilty to things they didn’t do just to end the suffering.

But Ford, Poilievre, or any of their Conservative cheerleaders don’t care about justice or the efficacy of these proposals – it’s all just grist for their grievance mill.

Let’s break down just one reason Ford’s proposals are unconstitutional and actively harmful in the dumbest way.

Ford wants to deny bail to anyone accused of intimate partner violence. Do you know who can be charged with domestic abuse? Abused women. I’ve represented dozens of women charged with domestic assault by their abusive male partners. Two specific cases have kept me up at night, given Ford’s new bail proposals. Both women were charged with assault by their abusers – one hit her husband with a pillow, and the other splashed room-temperature water on hers. Both were arrested by police, charged, and prosecuted. Only after a year of waiting for their day in court did one woman have her charges dropped, while the other was acquitted.

Under Ford’s proposal, both women would have automatically spent that year in jail – separated from their children, losing their jobs, and cut off from community support – all while Doug Ford would be standing by as a complicit accomplice in their continued abuse.

This is the problem with the Conservatives' dishonest justice policy. It doesn’t just ignore legitimate problems; it actively makes things worse. The benefits they promise are built on lies, not evidence.

It’s easy to point fingers at unpopular groups, even when many in those groups are likely innocent, and blame them for systemic issues. It’s easy to focus on outlier cases while ignoring evidence that doesn’t fit the narrative. It’s easy to continue the justice grift for political gain. And guess what? It works. People buy this nonsense.

The real tragedy here is that Conservative “justice reform” isn’t about protecting the public; it’s about pandering to fear. It’s a cynical, profoundly misleading ploy that does nothing to make us safer and makes justice harder to find. The “jail, not bail” slogan might make for a catchy soundbite, but when you look at the damage these policies cause, it’s clear they’re more about feeding Conservative egos and fundraising than fixing our justice system.