Standing Room Only at BCA Town Hall as MPs Brock and Khanna with Candidate Emily Brown Confront the Crime Crisis.
On August 15, 2026, the Burlington Conservation Association hosted a Public Safety Town Hall at the Burlington Central Public Library. The room was at capacity, as guests listened intently to the guest speakers – the formidable MP Larry Brock (Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations) and the recently appointed Shadow Minister for Justice and Attorney General of Canada, MP Arpan Khanna, (Oxford).
Mr. Brock and Mr. Khanna described how, over the past year, they travelled together across Canada speaking to a variety of law enforcement agencies and others who are deeply concerned with the exponential rise in crime in this country due to lax Liberal bail laws requiring judges to grant bail to violent repeat offenders. As Larry stated, community safety is job number one of any government and should be a non-partisan issue.
As a former Crown Attorney (who is returning to that position soon in his riding), Larry described from his extensive professional experience, that judges continue to release repeat violent offenders because of the principle of restraint laid out in the odious Liberal Bill 75 (2019). This principle requires bail judges to release accused persons at the earliest reasonable opportunity upon the least restrictive conditions. In addition, bail courts are required by Liberal laws and policies to provide extra consideration to accused persons who are members of vulnerable populations like Indigenous persons, to avoid over-representation in pre-trial detention. In short, placing the needs and interests of accused persons ahead of the safety of Canadians.
Larry told the packed room that the Liberals refused to repeal Bill 75 (no doubt because the Conservatives requested it) with its harmful principle of restraint in bail court. The result, nothing has changed in the rates of crime and devastation in our communities, homes, and businesses.
In July 2026, the Liberal Bill C14 (the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act) was passed into law. At the time, MP Sean Fraser (Minister of Justice and a lawyer with zero criminal law experience) was crowing in the House of Commons that this would be a cure-all for the high crime rates in this country. As MP Larry Brock pointed out, Bill C14 did NOT repeal the principle of restraint or the extra consideration judges provide for offenders from vulnerable populations. Bill C14 only stipulates that an accused person must demonstrate to a bail court why they should not be detained before their trial. The reverse onus has not dislodged the principle of restraint and has done nothing to stem the tide of crime in this country.
Larry Brock and Arpan Khanna both commented on the role that organized crime is playing in our country. No Canadian should be blind to the fact that our once peaceful and law-abiding country has been taken over by foreign drug cartels, organized crime mobs, and gangsters, with devastating effects. Burlington residents have suffered armed robberies in their own homes, jewellery store smash and grabs, auto theft, extortion, human trafficking and sadly murder, at the hands of repeat violent offenders. The Liberal policies and laws have endangered every Canadian and destroyed our once relatively bucolic existence in Canada.
The Conservative Party of Canada’s policy on safety and bail, is very simple. Put the interests of victims and the safety of the community ahead of the interests of violent repeat offenders. This will require repealing the principle of restraint in Bill C75 and getting tough on crime.