Carney’s crime plan repeats past promises, repackages existing RCMP pledge

Carney’s newly unveiled promises to combat crime are being billed as a fresh push to make communities safer — but much of what was announced Thursday echoes existing policies made by his government.

Source: X

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly unveiled promises to combat crime are being billed as a fresh push to make communities safer — but much of what was announced Thursday echoes existing policies or repeats unfulfilled promises made by his government.

At a media event in Etobicoke, Ont., Carney announced measures to protect Canadians, including expanded reverse-onus bail provisions, a broad commitment to “strengthen the Criminal Code,” and a pledge to hire 1,000 new RCMP personnel.

That same hiring promise was first unveiled in April 2025 as part of Carney’s last-minute campaign platform on crime reform.

No reasonable observer would fault a government for fulfilling its commitments. But Thursday’s event framed the idea of hiring more police officers as a brand-new initiative.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser was quick to amplify the message online as if it were a spontaneous moment of forward thinking on improving public safety in Canada.

“Prime Minister Carney just announced new plans to help keep Canadians safe, including hiring 1,000 new RCMP officers,” Fraser wrote on X minutes after the announcement — as if the commitment had not already been made ahead of the last election several months ago.

The RCMP hiring commitment, made in April, is not only an aging one — it is also one the Carney government has thus far struggled to fulfill.

Carney had already promised in April to hire 1,000 RCMP members and 1,000 CBSA agents to strengthen border security — but provided no timeline for doing so.

Earlier this week, Liberal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree was grilled on the subject in committee — with the minister eventually forced to admit the 1,000 new Canada Border Services Agency agents and 1,000 RCMP officers promised in April had yet to be hired.

Anandasangaree told a Commons committee, “I’m not responsible for the hiring,” when asked about the RCMP recruitment deficit.

Barbara Bal, a former police officer and the Conservative Party candidate who faced off against Carney in the now-Prime Minister’s Nalean riding in the last election, noted the redundancy in a Thursday X post.

“He recycled an old announcement from April to mislead Canadians,” Bal wrote in reference to Carney’s so-called “announcement” on new measures to tackle crime.

On Thursday, Carney’s office also reiterated a series of justice reforms that had been previously signaled, tabled, or even implemented before eventually being struck down by the courts.

Among those were proposed amendments to expand reverse-onus bail provisions — measures that would make it harder for certain repeat violent offenders to be released pending trial.

As noted by Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre in another Thursday X post, similar reforms were introduced just two years ago under Bill C-48, passed in 2023 with broad cross-party support.

“Today, Carney refused to scrap Liberal bail, instead repeating the same pledge of a reverse onus that Liberals promised two years ago in C-48,” Poilievre wrote.

“That will do nothing,” Poilievre continued “because Liberal bail law C-75 requires judges release rampant reoffenders ‘at the earliest opportunity under the least onerous conditions.’”

Notably, that legislation, Bill C-75, already requires accused persons charged with serious offenses involving firearms, intimate partner violence, or repeat violent crimes to demonstrate why they should be granted bail rather than the burden of proof being on the courts themselves.

Carney’s new proposals, which remain light on details and specifics, appear to lurch towards a less lenient bail system by extending reverse-onus conditions to a wider list of offenses such as violent auto theft and organized retail crime — but such changes largely just repackage existing frameworks within Canada’s criminal justice system.

“This is yet another vague promise from the Liberal government with no clear metrics or deadlines for accountability,” Bal continued in herX post responding to Carney’s mostly rehashed or unspecific promises made on Thursday morning.