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The bill would have made it mandatory for a Crown prosecutor to present an accused person’s criminal record and any outstanding charges during a bail hearing.

Shelly MacInnis-Wynn, David Wynn’s widow, said she supported the legislation as a means to ensure no family has to suffer a similar tragedy.

“The last few days have been devastating, heartbreaking and even traumatizing because of the way that our prime minister has treated this bill,” said MacInnis-Wynn, with tears streaming down her face.

“I am not sure why it has to come to this,” she continued. ”And why they feel it is necessary to hurt an already broken family when all we have ever wanted is to make sure that no one else feels the pain that I feel.”

Critics of the bill have argued the legislation would create unnecessary delays in an already beleaguered criminal justice system and that the issue at the heart of the bill will be better addressed in a comprehensive review of Alberta’s bail system.

“We heard from witness after witness after witness,” said Randy Boissonnault, Liberal MP for Edmonton-Centre. He serves on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and did not support passing Wynn’s Law, saying experts advised that further delays would see even more criminal cases thrown out without trial.

“Overwhelmingly (they) were against the changes being proposed because of the complications it would create by delaying the justice system, which ends up letting more people out of prison and not being tried through the trial system because of the long delays in the process,” said Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal MP for Edmonton-Mill Woods and a cabinet minister.