Wildfires aren’t the only thing raging in Manitoba this summer. A surge of violent, often deadly, crime has rolled across the province.Many of the victims and perpetrators are youths. Many of the accused are repeat offenders let loose onto the streets on bail.“This summer has been chaos on Winnipeg streets and in communities across Manitoba,” said PC justice critic Wayne Balcaen. “This summer has been a nightmare for Manitobans.”The Brandon West MLA and former Brandon police chief alleged NDP Premier Wab Kinew has failed to keep his promise to tackle crime and toughen bail regulations to keep dangerous offenders off the streets.He called on Kinew’s government to stop releasing violent offenders..Earlier this year the Fraser Institute identified Winnipeg as Canada’s most dangerous city in terms of violent crime. The rate of incidents, 675 per 100,000 people, far exceeded the national average of 262 per 100,000. (Calgary had the highest overall crime rate and Vancouver the highest rate of property crime.)But Balcaen raised the alarm Monday about violent crime extending beyond Winnipeg and “sweeping” across the province to penetrate smaller rural communities over the past two months.This includes stabbing and shooting homicides.On July 13, a 37-year-old father was shot and killed in small-town Teulon, north of Winnipeg. The accused 24-year-old was out on bail. On July 28 a 34-year-old Thompson woman was stabbed to death by another woman now facing manslaughter charges. That same day a 31-year-old male who was shot in March in The Pas died from his injuries. His death was ruled a homicide. An allegedly targeted double homicide — a 29-year-old male and a 41-year-old female — occurred on June 23 in the rural municipality of Victoria Beach near Winnipeg..Crimes include sword and machete attacks. In mid-June a Winnipeg teenager suffered life-altering injuries after being attacked with a machete and robbed by a mob of youths. On June 13 a Brandon school was under lockdown after a teen male was attacked with a sword by a 16-year-old male. On July 18 another Winnipeg 14-year-old was robbed and stabbed with a machete. Three teens aged 13, 14 and 15 were arrested.Vicious beatings and sexual assaults occurred.A 30-year-old man was beaten unconscious in Winnipeg on June 6 by a stranger to him. The accused, convicted murderer Daniel Christopher Dumas, is still on the loose. On June 2 four sexual assaults occurred within an hour in or around Winnipeg’s Health Science Centre.On July 10 Swan River’s CJ Radio studio was nearly destroyed in a firebombing..“Kinew told Manitobans during his 2023 election campaign that he was going to tackle crime by making it harder for repeat, violent offenders to get bail,” said Balcaen. “Nearly two years later, he’s done nothing to keep violent offenders off our streets and now Manitobans are paying the price.”On Monday Winnipeg police were called to assist EMS during a patient transport from Pine Creek First Nation to a Dauphin hospital. A male patient, 38, assaulted paramedics with a pair of shears. He escaped when an officer opened the back of the ambulance, jumped into a vehicle with a child in the backseat and assaulted the driver with the shears before he could be restrained with the help of a taser. Fortunately, injuries to a paramedic and the driver of the vehicle were minor.The PCs said Kinew’s government is more focused on delivering “political spin” to Manitobans.“Instead of tackling the problem, Premier Wab Kinew is falsely claiming that he’s strengthened bail regulations and made our downtowns safer. The premier is clearly out of touch and ignoring the rising level of crime on our streets,” said Balcaen..In February 2024 the Kinew government unveiled a $3-million plan to address Manitoba’s bail system and make it harder for repeat offenders to be released.Crown prosecutors were directed to consider how bail decisions impacted victims and the community focussing especially on chronic violent offenders and assess whether detention was necessary.“It seems like something that should have been happening all along, but we’re now going to introduce that as a standard,” Kinew told CTV news at the time.The plan included adding 12 new Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) officers to help track down offenders who violate bail conditions and hiring five new bail workers to monitor and supervise offenders released on bail.And in August 2024, the government reinstated the ankle bracelet program that was cancelled in 2017 to help keep 24/7 tabs particularly on repeat offenders. The electronic devices are used to supervise offenders released on bailThe Western Standard has reached out to Kinew for comment on progress made.When the provincial NDP budget was delivered in March, Balcaen described it as “underwhelming,” based on “recycled promises,” and failed to address needs to combat rising crime in rural areas and municipalities outside of Winnipeg.The past two months alone seem to have proven him right.Balcaen isn’t the only one calling for tougher bail reform. In June Portage la Prairie Mayor Janna Braaksma told the CBC it was needed to reign in prolific repeat offender thieves targeting businesses. They may be arrested but are released into the community to continue helping themselves to stolen goods from struggling businesses.Meanwhile, the trail of victims of violent crime grows. “Each of these crimes leaves behind a person who suffers the physical, emotional, and psychological scars of being a victim of crime,” said Balcaen. “Premier Kinew needs to keep his election promise to Manitobans and stop releasing repeat, violent, dangerous offenders.”
