Manitoba PCs propose dedicated Crown unit for property crime

Manitoba’s Opposition Progressive Conservative (PC) party is proposing a new Crown prosecutions division dedicated to prosecuting property crimes.

The plan, which the PCs claim will hold repeat offenders accountable, will establish a new Crown prosecution unit with the sole purpose of handling property crime cases. The interim leader said the party is committed to spending $8 million on this project if it is elected to form government in the next provincial election.

“In addition to affecting families and their feeling of safety in their homes and communities, crime has a major effect on our economy,” interim leader of the Manitoba PC party, Konrad Narth, said at a news conference in Winnipeg Wednesday.

Crime and safety, as well as affordability, have been identified as major issues to him by Manitobans, he added, noting that the “revolving door bail system” and “lack of court capacity to prosecute these types of crimes” were contributing factors to concerns among Manitobans.

Story continues below advertisement

“We are committing that a PC government will create that capacity by establishing a dedicated office of Crown prosecutors that specializes in the prosecution of property crimes in Manitoba,” Narth said.

Twenty-five new Crown attorneys would be hired to support the property crime prosecution team, according to the PCs’ current plan, he added.

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.

When asked how he would hire those lawyers amid an existing shortage of Crown attorneys, Narth responded that the current NDP government is not taking steps to manage the workload issues prosecutors are facing.

“I don’t want to talk specifically about what’s going to be solved here, because that is a government issue right now. However, adding capacity is going to make the group (seem) more inviting. And it’s going to add that sense of belonging to the prosecutors,” he continued.

Ben Wickstrom, vice-president of prosecutions at the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys (MACA), said the association’s office is overwhelmed with cases, and at least 50 additional Crown attorneys are needed to deal with that workload.

“Twenty-five new Crown attorneys, I think would be a good start. But I think at the end of the day, there’s a long way to go in terms of getting us where we need to be. So, 25 new Crown attorneys would be helpful, but it wouldn’t be enough,” he told Global News in an interview.

Story continues below advertisement

“We leave it up to our elected official to determine what the priorities are. Certainly, we know that property crime is a substantial issue.”

At a media scrum later that day, the provincial NDP Minister of Justice and Attorney General Matt Wiebe responded to the Opposition’s plan.

“I’ll just say that the PC party has no leg to stand on when it comes to this issue. They routinely ignored the Crown attorneys, they made no steps to add Crown attorneys during their time in office,” Wiebe said, highlighting the open dialogue that he said the governing NDP has with the Crown attorneys association.

“All of this talk from the PCs around adding officers, adding Crown (attorneys), more funding for justice, they never did it. For seven and a half years. In the last year of office, when they were desperate, when they knew they were going to get shown the door by Manitobans, they came in with unrealistic numbers (to) fill out the justice department. They never did any of it.”

The minister said justice will continue being prioritized by the province.

According to Winnipeg Police Service data, property crime spiked in 2022, with more than 52,000 cases reported. It has lessened since then, reaching 48,596 cases in 2025, a 0.9 per cent increase when compared to the year prior.

Story continues below advertisement

“Despite little year-over-year change, notable decreases were observed across a number of key categories including shoplifting, break and enter, motor vehicle theft, and arson. These decreases were offset by increases in mischief and theft from motor vehicles,” Winnipeg police’s 2025 statistical report reads.

Provincially, the number of property crime-related instances reported to police has been declining since it peaked with more than 91,000 reported cases in 2022, Statistics Canada data says. Last year, that figure dropped to 86,735.