Western Standard - December 14, 2023


Canada Bail System Is Broken

Topics
bail system broken
Mentioned
Mickey Amory Mike Ellis Trudeau Smith
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Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

132.59

Word count

536

Sentence count

28

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis talks about the alarming number of random shootings, carjackings, and gun attacks that have been reported on Alberta's streets in recent months, and why we need to fix our broken bail system.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Hi, I'm Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, Mike Ellis.
00:00:03.920 Before I was ever elected, I was a police officer in Calgary.
00:00:07.440 I want to read about a crime that happened recently on Alberta streets.
00:00:12.160 So please, listen.
00:00:14.100 A female patron was exiting an Edmonton mall on a weekday evening 0.99
00:00:18.520 when she was approached by a masked man who attempted to rob her.
00:00:22.820 She fled to a nearby vehicle who was let inside by the Good Samaritan.
00:00:27.580 The suspect then approached the vehicle and pointed the gun at the driver
00:00:32.200 before moving towards and shooting someone who was unlocking their bicycle.
00:00:38.120 The suspect continued carjacking at gunpoint another female
00:00:42.140 before speeding away and crashing her vehicle. 1.00
00:00:45.780 After a foot chase, the suspect was apprehended by the Edmonton Police Service
00:00:50.300 and was found to be in possession of a sawed-off shotgun,
00:00:53.480 multiple rounds of ammunition and 27 grams of methamphetamine.
00:00:59.140 At the time of the offenses, the suspect was on a release order
00:01:03.900 for aggravated assault with a firearm
00:01:06.440 and has a lifetime firearms ban and weapons ban.
00:01:11.000 So just a few months ago, a father of seven tragically murdered,
00:01:18.680 also being reported as random.
00:01:21.720 The alleged offender was out on bail,
00:01:24.620 living in a tent not too far from the station.
00:01:28.400 News outlets reported that the alleged offender
00:01:31.440 had a long criminal history, including assault and robbery.
00:01:35.440 Also, there was a shooting on a moving bus in Calgary,
00:01:39.820 stabbings on a C-train platforms,
00:01:42.100 and a flare gun attack engulfing a man in flames inside a station,
00:01:47.120 which are just some of the violent attacks in Calgary,
00:01:50.980 making people feel unsafe.
00:01:53.260 These stories are heartbreaking when we consider the suffering
00:01:57.560 of the victims and their families,
00:01:59.860 and they are equally frustrating
00:02:02.000 when we hear about the alleged perpetrators.
00:02:06.200 Random shootings, random murders,
00:02:09.520 from alleged offenders who are apparently out on bail or release.
00:02:14.740 Everyone knows that our bail system is broken
00:02:18.040 when repeat offenders can repeat crimes so easily.
00:02:22.660 This bail system was brought in by the Trudeau government,
00:02:26.360 and it has been devastating for every province,
00:02:30.680 not just Alberta.
00:02:33.000 Well, Albertans have had enough.
00:02:36.020 Our government has had enough.
00:02:38.680 I personally have had enough.
00:02:42.200 And that's why, earlier this year,
00:02:45.640 Premier Smith stood up
00:02:47.420 and issued a demand letter to the Prime Minister,
00:02:50.980 along with every single Premier in Canada,
00:02:53.560 to fix our nation's broken bail system.
00:02:56.820 And it worked.
00:02:58.740 Parliament passed amendments to the bail reform.
00:03:01.980 That's also why we're delivering on another of our spring promises,
00:03:06.740 increasing officer presence in the core areas of Edmonton or Calgary
00:03:11.700 with 100 new police officers.
00:03:14.440 It's why I've also been working closely
00:03:17.900 with the Minister of Justice, Mickey Amory,
00:03:19.840 to create a specialized prosecution unit
00:03:22.600 to address deteriorating safety
00:03:25.700 in Alberta's major urban centres,
00:03:28.020 along with a new strategy
00:03:29.980 to ensure criminals and gang members
00:03:32.580 are detained and effectively prosecuted.
00:03:36.640 And it's why we are also looking
00:03:39.540 at ways to decrease open-air drug use
00:03:42.580 in illegal encampments,
00:03:44.220 so people can live and enjoy their cities
00:03:47.040 without worrying about their safety.
00:03:50.580 Alberta will continue doing all that we can
00:03:54.460 and what we must to ensure that every person feels safe
00:03:58.800 and will continue taking concrete action.