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A Focus on Justice

October 21, 2025

Canadians continue to express increasing concern about the growing crime rates in our communities. Conservative MPs have been listening and are taking the action available to them as members of the Official Opposition. Below are the justice-related pieces of legislation sponsored by Conservatives in the first few weeks of this new Parliament (as of the time of writing).

The provided links will allow you to obtain realtime information about specific bills should you wish, including speeches, votes, Committee studies and amendments.

More information on the legislative process in general can be found here.

  • C-220 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (immigration status in sentencing)

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that, in imposing a sentence on an offender who is not a Canadian citizen, a court must not take into consideration the offender’s immigration status in Canada.

  • C-221 – An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (disclosure of information to victims)

This enactment amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to provide that information that is disclosed to the victim of an offence regarding eligibility dates and review dates applicable to the offender in respect of temporary absences, releases or parole must include an explanation of how the dates were determined.

  • C- 225 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code

This enactment amends the Criminal Code in order to:

(a) create specific offences in respect of intimate partner violence and to prohibit a peace officer from releasing a person arrested for an intimate partner offence if the person has committed an intimate partner offence in the preceding five years or is at large on a release order in respect of an intimate partner offence;

(b) allow a court to order that an accused charged with an offence involving intimate partner violence be taken into custody for a risk-of-reoffending assessment at any stage of proceedings; and

(c) increase the detention period of things seized under section 490 of the Act from three months to one year and to provide for circumstances in which notices to the person from whom the thing was seized may be dispensed with.

  • C-231 – An Act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act

This enactment amends the Youth Criminal Justice Act in order to:

(a) clarify the measures governing addiction treatment programs for young persons;

(b) enable, in some cases, the youth justice court that finds a young person guilty of an offence to delay sentencing to enable the young person to participate in an addiction treatment program;

(c) enable the youth justice court to include in certain orders the condition of attending an addiction treatment program; and

(d) provide that failing or refusing to comply with such a condition cannot by itself result in a custodial sentence.

  • C- 232 – An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (maximum security offenders)

This enactment amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to require that inmates who have been found to be dangerous offenders or convicted of more than one first degree murder be assigned a security classification of maximum and confined in a maximum security penitentiary or area in a penitentiary.

  • C-235 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (increasing parole ineligibility)

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that a person convicted of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of the same victim in respect of the same event or series of events is to be sentenced to imprisonment for life without eligibility for parole until the person has served a sentence of between twenty-five and forty years, as determined by the presiding judge after considering the recommendation, if any, of the jury.

  • C-236 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Prisons and Reformatories Act

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to add as an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes and as a reason to delay parole the fact that a person who is convicted of certain offences refuses to provide persons in authority with information respecting the location of bodies or remains. It also amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Prisons and Reformatories Act to add that fact as a consideration in the making of certain decisions under those Acts.

  • C-240 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code, to make related amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that a court may, by order, in addition to any term of imprisonment imposed on an offender for the commission of an offence, prescribe measures that the offender is to take during the custodial period of their sentence, which may include participation in educational, training or treatment programs.

It also makes related amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to, among other things, provide that objectives with regard to programs that the offender may be required to complete during the custodial period of their sentence are to be included in the correctional plan developed by the head of the facility in which the offender is held and to provide that the assessments that parole boards take into consideration when making a determination regarding the granting of parole are to include information on the progress made by an offender with regard to any prescribed measures that the offender was required to take.

Finally, the enactment amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to provide that a court imposing a sentence on a person convicted of trafficking in fentanyl must consider as an aggravating factor the fact that the person trafficked it in quantities that indicate trafficking on a large scale.

  • C-242 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Department of Justice Act

This enactment amends the Criminal Code in order to

(a) replace the principle of restraint in section 493.‍1 of the Act with the principle of protection of the public;

(b) add the protection of the public as a consideration in decisions on the release of an accused;

(c) add several violent indictable offences to the list of reverse-onus offences in subsection 515(6) of the Act for the determination of judicial interim release;

(d) create a list of major offences, composed of violent reverse-onus offences;

(e) prevent those charged with a major offence from being released after arrest by a peace officer;

(f) require that only a superior court judge may determine, on a reverse-onus basis, whether to permit the interim release of an accused if the accused was charged with a major offence while they were on release in respect of another major offence and if they were convicted of a major offence in the last ten years;

(g) provide for the expiry of the interim release of an accused upon their conviction of an indictable offence while they await sentencing;

(h) prohibit those who have been convicted of an indictable offence in the last ten years from being named as a surety;

(i) require that a justice assessing judicial interim release consider whether or not an accused is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident and, if not, whether they may attempt to leave the country;

(j) make it a condition that those who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents deposit their passports in order to be released whether by a peace officer after arrest or by a justice on judicial interim release; and

(k) change the standard of assessment under paragraph 515(10)‍(b) of the Act of whether an accused, if released, will commit an offence or interfere with the administration of justice from a “substantial likelihood” to “whether it is reasonably foreseeable” and require that the criminal history of an accused be taken into consideration.

It also amends the Department of Justice Act to require the Minister of Justice to prepare and table in Parliament an annual report on the state of judicial interim release in Canada.

  • C-243 – An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (parole review)

This enactment amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to provide that, in the case of an offender who is serving a sentence for first degree murder or second degree murder, parole is reviewed in accordance with the statutory time frames — not on application by the offender — once the Board has decided not to grant day or full parole to the offender or to cancel or terminate the offender’s parole.

  • C-246 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (consecutive sentences for sexual offences)

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to require that sentences for sexual offences be served consecutively.

Additional draft legislation relating to strengthening the justice system is currently being reviewed and discussed by the Conservative caucus. Stephanie will update this initial list in future e-newsletters. Next Update look for a Focus on Social Legislation.