‘Now is the time’: Federal minister on bail reform legislation, pipeline possibility

Eleanor Olszewski on Alberta Primetime Oct 16, 2025.

Minister for Emergency Management and Community Resilience as well as Minister for Prairies Economic Development Canada Eleanor Olszewski speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about new legislation around bail reform, and the possibility of a west coast pipeline.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Where do you see this bail reform bill making the biggest impact?

Eleanor Olszewski: I think it will make a big impact on our cities in particular, and just with respect to the changes that we’re putting forward next week through the justiceminister, they really have a couple of different pillars that are really important.

The first one is the changes that will be made to strengthen the Criminal Code, and that has to do with bail and with sentencing as well. We know that in cities, as well as elsewhere across Alberta - and in fact across the country - people are afraid. They’re afraid to go to the public library. They’re afraid to get on public transit, they’re afraid to go downtown. They’re afraid to go to a community park in their neighborhood.

We really do need to take some steps to make sure that the public has faith in the justice system and that we’re doing what we can to make sure people who are violent repeat offenders are dealt with appropriately by the justice system.

MH: Part of this was an announcement to hire another 1,000 RCMP officers nationwide.

Will we see more RCMP officers here in Alberta?

EO: As I understand it, Alberta will absolutely see more RCMP officers. With respect to what their role will be, it will be more in keeping with investigating and dealing with crimes such as organized crime and violent crime, financial crime, those kinds of things that really fall more under federal jurisdiction.

MH: There have long been demands for bail reform, notably from the opposition Conservatives.

Why has it taken until now for your government to act and make changes?

EO: It was a matter of really determining what changes will be the most effective. There was some tinkering done with respect to the Criminal Code in years past. What we’re seeing, and especially since COVID-19, is that those measures just aren’t working. They’re not working as well as we would like to see them working. So now is the time.

It was a platform promise of the prime minister’s that he’s making good on. That’s to ensure that we deal better with violent and repeat offenders in particular. It’s really important to understand how this came about, which is after extensive collaboration with the provinces, the territories, attorneys general, law enforcement officials, and social agency leadership across the country. Really listening to what front-line people had to say about what would be the most impactful in terms of what we could do to improve the safety of Canadians.

It’s been a process that certainly was not overnight and involved a lot of thoughtful discussion with a lot of different people.

MH: There have been developments on legislation to fast-track nation-building projects.

Alberta is pushing for a new pipeline to the B.C. coast. Where does that actually land on the radar of the federal government?

EO: As a proud Albertan, I can certainly say that Alberta is as entitled as any other proponent to put forward a plan for a project that it feels should be considered as a project of national interest. The prime minister and Minister [of Energy and Natural Resources Tim] Hodgson have been clear on a couple of things.

One is that Alberta will be treated exactly the same as any other proponent putting forward a project. Whatever Alberta puts forward will go through the same analysis, the same criteria, as other proponents. The idea of an Alberta pipeline project’s quite exciting for most Albertans. Of course, meeting the criteria means asking: what about environmental concerns? What about First Nations?

MH: Minister Hodgson, to paraphrase, has said Alberta has some work to do in that regard.

What responsibility is on the shoulders of the Alberta government in taking its proposal forward?

EO: Alberta will need to make sure it’s consulted with Indigenous peoples. Other criteria that’s specified in the act, I believe, is that the project will advance the interest of Indigenous peoples. There’ll be work to be done by the province in making sure that Indigenous peoples, both in Alberta and British Columbia, have some buy-in with respect to whatever project is eventually put forward.

It’s my understanding that at the present time, the details of that project are really unknown. What [Alberta’s] premier has committed to is spending millions of dollars to do some investigative work. I believe the premier has said that includes investigative work with respect to consulting with First Nations, as well as engineering and the other type of preliminary project work.

MH: There is a bit of a dust-up between Alberta’s premier and B.C.’s premier over the project.

Is there a point at which your government steps in to help navigate that conversation, since this is federal jurisdiction?

EO: I guess it’s always a possibility. I think probably the prime minister and Minister Hodgson would both say that they really want the two premiers to be able to work this out themselves. An agreement that’s worked on between two parties that are involved in the discussion is the best agreement. I know that that certainly is the prime minister’s preference. We’re hoping that sensible people can work out something that’s really to the best advantage of both provinces.