By Glen Hallick

Suspects waiting in jail for their trial will no longer have their time served counted twice when it’s subtracted from their sentence should they be found guilty.

The federal Conservative government announced the changes last week.

And those changes were welcomed by Portage-Lisgar MP Candice Hoeppner.

“Our purpose is for truth in sentencing,” said Hoeppner.

She said until now judges had the discretion to permit convicts to have their time in pre-trial holding at two days to one or even three days to one.

“What we want this legislation to do is limit the power of judges to make that decision. We want them to give credit for time served, but not extra credit,” Hoeppner explained.

She said there have even been instances when an accused wants to spend more time in custody awaiting trial.

“They know how the system works. They can get extra time for that time served. That’s obviously a big loophole that we want to close,” said Hoeppner.

The MP also acknowledged the efforts of the Manitoba government and other provinces for their efforts in lobbying for the change.

Manitoba Attorney General Dave Chomiak congratulated the Harper government as well.