OTTAWA — ONew statistics indicating crime has dropped almost everywhere in Canada show the Liberal government’s three tough-on-crime bills were not based on facts, one advocate says. Statistics Canada said Wednesday both the rates and severity of reported crime were down almost across the board in 2025. Parliament passed three bills last month that introduced new offences to the Criminal Code, made it more difficult to get bail for a variety of crimes and restored mandatory minimum prison penalties. “They’re lacking the evidentiary base to establish that what they’re trying to correct is, in fact, a serious problem,” said Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada. “They’re also lacking the evidence to suggest that the measures that they’re adopting would do anything to actually increase public safety in the long run. And that’s a problem.” Latimer said the politicization of criminal policy has led some Canadians to believe crime rates are higher than they are. “The politicization of crime has led to an inflated idea of how much crime is actually occurring within Canada and raising real strong public concerns about it that don’t match the reality,” she said. The Liberals introduced the three bills after a 2025 federal election campaign which saw the Conservative party campaign heavily on cracking down on crime. Multiple political parties have concluded that “being tough on crime is a winning strategy that has public appeal and will gather them votes and so they are leaning into it,” Latimer said. “Rather than correcting misperceptions about the actual levels of crime, they’re feeding the misperception.” A spokesperson for Justice Minister Sean Fraser stood by the bills in a statement Thursday. “In less than a year, our new government passed three major criminal justice bills. These sweeping reforms deliver on our commitment to strengthen the Criminal Code, support the front lines, and invest in long-term prevention,” the statement said. The spokesperson said the new crime statistics are good news for Canadians and while they “reflect the work of law enforcement and provincial partners,” that work is not yet done. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2026. Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
