By Michael Reeve

INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

Caputo’s ‘Bailey’s Law’ passes second reading with unanimous support

Dec 4, 2025 | 3:03 PM

OTTAWA — Kamloops MP Frank Caputo’s private members’ bill, named Bailey’s Law, has passed unanimously at second reading in the House of Commons.

Caputo’s bill is looking to strengthen laws around intimate partner violence, including making any murder of an intimate partner be charged as first-degree murder. The bill also looks to make changes around evidence and give more tools to the courts to deal with offenders.

While the governing Liberals raised concerns during debate, Caputo was able to get the bill passed.

“We have to pass this. We have to deal with the scourge of intimate partner violence,” said Caputo. “It’s important because the bill does make changes to murder of an intimate (partner). It also updates the law of seizure. It contains at this time — we will see what committee has to say — it contains a risk assessment, and it also says that a person cannot be released on the scene by a police officer if they have got a prior conviction for this type of offense in the last five years. It’s a very sweeping private members bill.”

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Caputo says he’s ready to bring the bill forward at committee as early as this week, but notes it may have to wait until the new year to proceed further. Nevertheless, Caputo will be writing to the committee asking it to sit for an extra hour or two to ensure the bill moves forward.

“We are going to be going to committee and studying the bill,” added Caputo. “A lot of those discussions have been completed, so I’m very optimistic, actually. I think we might only need an hour, maybe two in committee. My goal is to get this through the committee process as quickly as possible.”

It’s named Bailey’s Law in honour of Bailey McCourt, who was allegedly murdered by her former intimate partner just hours after he was found guilty on an assault charge but released from custody.