Canada’s new Bail and Sentencing Reform Act is now law, imposing stricter bail conditions and tougher sentences on a range of serious criminal activity.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the new legislation is designed to make communities safer.

He says in addition to new laws to strengthen the Criminal Code, the federal government is doing more to support those on the front line, with new legislative tools to allow law enforcement to keep pace with changing criminal practices, and supporting organizations working with the victims of crime.

Fraser was asked about the impact that tougher sentencing will have on already overcrowded prisons.

He says the short-term goal of strengthened sentencing will be to address public safety and crime rates, while the long-term goal “is not to incarcerate more people, but to prevent crime from happening that demands incarceration in the first place.”