Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years, there has been a 32% rise in violent crime, a doubling of gang murders, and police and innocent Canadians being murdered by violent repeat offenders getting bail and being back on our streets, day after day. This is Canada after eight years of the Prime Minister's broken Liberal bail system, and yet he voted against taking action on this issue. What is it going to t…
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of soft-on-crime Liberals, Canada is seeing a 32% rise in violent crime. Gang murders have doubled in this country. Repeat violent offenders are getting bail over and over again. Once safe neighbourhoods have become havens for crime and violence, and in response, premiers, police and Toronto are demanding bail reform from the Prime Minister. Today, the Liberal govern…
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Mr. Speaker, I have two quick points. The member said a factually incorrect statement. Under Stephen Harper, the days spent in prison by an average individual in prison went from 126 days to 105 days, so he is factually incorrect on that part. I am disappointed in the Bloc Québécois, actually, because in Quebec a woman was violently raped. She fought her rapist. She was violently raped by a man. H…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of the Minister of Public Safety today, although I did not hear specific, concrete changes that he or his colleague, the Minister of Justice, would like to make concerning the Criminal Code. Therefore, I am assuming there are no changes coming. We have heard from every premier in the country, asking for changes to the Criminal Code concerning bail. We have hea…
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Mr. Speaker, today the justice minister said that, if someone poses a significant threat to public safety, the law tells us they should not be released on bail, but in reality, in Toronto last year, of the 44 gun murders, 24 of the suspects were out on bail when they committed these murders. Those 24 people clearly posed a threat to public safety, yet they were out on bail. When will the minister …
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moved: That, given that, after eight years of this government's soft on crime policies, (i) violent crime has increased by 32%, (ii) gang-related homicides have increased by 92%, (iii) violent, repeat offenders are obtaining bail much more easily, (iv) increasing daily acts of crime and violence are putting Canadians at risk, (v) five Canadian police officers were killed in the line of duty in jus…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the member from Winnipeg spent any time speaking with police, but my remarks are fuelled by facts and police officers I have spoken to in Winnipeg and across the country. If he does not believe me, we can talk about Stats Canada. I do believe he believes in the institutions and the researchers in government, so I am going to assume he is going to take me at face value…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member for his thoughts on the recent ruling where a violent rapist was sentenced to zero days in prison because the Liberal government brought forward the option of conditional sentencing for rapists. Can he comment on that with a bit of the history?
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Mr. Speaker, last fall the Liberals celebrated eliminating mandatory prison time for those convicted of sexual assault. Now a man convicted of raping a Quebec woman will get zero days in prison and, instead, will serve his sentence from the comfort of his home. After eight years of Liberal government, Canada has become a place where men who rape women get zero days in prison. This is not justice. …
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Mr. Speaker, last month, the OPP's Constable Greg Pierzchala was murdered by a violent criminal out on bail. Chief Myron Demkiw of the Toronto police said that this murder was senseless and preventable and that Canada needs bail reform. Unfortunately, access to bail for violent criminals was made easier by the Liberal government's Bill C-75. Countless Canadians have been harmed by the Liberal bail…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have had eight years to make our streets safer, and they have only made things worse. Last year in Toronto, of the 44 homicides by shooting, 24 of the criminals responsible were out on bail when they committed the murders. All 13 premiers in Canada signed a historic letter to the Prime Minister demanding bail reform. The Toronto police are demanding bail reform. What is i…
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With regard to the government's response to Order Paper question Q-896 regarding Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms): (a) what are the names, titles, and organizations representing each of the 77 stakeholders who attended the roundtables and who are mentioned in the response; (b) what are the names, titles, and organizations representing …
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, a Toronto man shot and killed his friend. He spent only five years in jail. Then he was charged in 2021 with another shooting. While out on bail for that, he was charged for running a massive gun smuggling ring of the very guns that are being used by criminals like him to terrorize people in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Winnipeg. This is what is going on in our cities. Cl…
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Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, a man who was convicted of drug trafficking and possession of illegal guns avoided prison thanks to the Liberals' new legislation that eliminates minimum sentences for certain crimes committed with firearms. On one side, we have the Liberals who allow dangerous armed criminals to go free, and on the other, we have the Prime Minister who is going after hunters and farmers. W…
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Mr. Speaker, we have a situation where a serious criminal was heavily armed, trafficking drugs and doing it all illegally. It is because of the Liberals and their soft-on-crime policies that this man, instead of going to prison, can now serve his sentence from the comfort of his home. That is a serious crime but no serious time under the Liberal government. Why are the Liberals going soft on crimi…
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Madam Chair, the member's question is an excellent one. I have had the privilege to work with members across party lines, whether it has been on a committee or elsewhere. I will give women some props. I think innately we are better at collaborating, compromising and coming together to find peaceful resolutions to things. That is what my experience has been throughout my political career and certai…
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Madam Chair, it would seem that we need some sort of inquiry or some sort of committee to come together formally to get everybody at the table to decide on a path forward. Indigenous elders and leadership need to be at that table as well. That would make sense. Yes, I would support something like that. I spoke with a number of folks from Manitoba at various levels of government today, as well as p…
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Madam Chair, if the federal government could come to the table with some dollars, I think that would move mountains in finding these women or, at the very least, dignifying where they rest. Certainly, I would support money from the federal government. Given that this has been a respectful conversation thus far, I am not looking to wade into serious partisanship, but it is true that this is a Liber…
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Madam Chair, first of all, on indigenous housing, I certainly agree that there needs to be solutions led by the indigenous community. We see first-hand in Winnipeg very clearly that every effort made, whether it is by the federal government, which has spent billions of dollars on affordable housing, or otherwise, has failed. It has failed. The problem has only gotten worse. I drive in downtown Win…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have been saying for weeks that the Liberal government is going after the tools used by hunters and farmers with Bill C-21, but the Liberals called it fearmongering and misinformation. They say that it is not a hunting rifle ban. However, the Liberal MP for Yukon has publicly said that he will vote against Bill C-21. He agrees with Conservatives on this, and I know there…
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Madam Chair, I will say first off that I appreciate the very passionate remarks of the member for Winnipeg Centre. It is very difficult to follow her, but I will do my best. I am not an expert in this area, although in the last 20 years I have had an opportunity to learn a bit more about what has happened to indigenous women and girls in Canada over the last several centuries and, in particular, i…
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Madam Chair, I was deeply moved by the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre's remarks, and I thank her for her bravery and her courage, which have continued for many years, on this file. She is likely one of the best experts in the House on this issue, so I greatly appreciate her bringing these experiences to this discussion today, and I thank her for her leadership in bringing this take-note debate to…
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Madam Chair, yes, I will fully commit to working with the member for Winnipeg Centre. I mentioned I do feel her expertise is unmatched in this House. I know there are other colleagues in the NDP and other members in the House who are indigenous. I do not want to take anything away from their experience and expertise. However, I know she has dedicated her life to learning, advocating and fighting f…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals continue to deny they are going after Canadian hunters with their latest gun ban, but the ban list is out and hunters across the country have seen many of their commonly used firearms on that list. Hunters from Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, the north and our indigenous hunters are all speaking out. Even legendary Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price is speaking out. The…
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With regard to Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms): (a) what are the details of all studies, surveys and focus groups conducted by the government and related to the effectiveness of the measures contained in the bill, including, for each (i) who conducted the study, (ii) the type of study (focus group, survey, etc.), (iii) the number of p…
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With regard to the Roxham Road border crossing: (a) how many individuals have used the Roxham Road border crossing to enter Canada, broken down by month since January 1, 2021; (b) what are the ongoing monthly costs related to the crossing, including costs associated with processing individuals crossing the border; (c) what is the breakdown of (b) by type of expenditure; (d) how many officers or em…
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With regard to individuals who have entered Canada at irregular border crossings, since January 1, 2020, broken down by month: how many individuals entered at such border crossings, broken down by province or territory, and by area (e.g., near Emerson, Manitoba)?
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the investigative work done by the Bloc Québécois on this issue. We are just learning about the details of this. I am very concerned about the allegations being made, as everyone should be if there is proven to be a connection and it is proven to be true. We are monitoring this quite closely. I imagine the Parliamentary press gallery and other media sources across the cou…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister of Public Safety for his speech. I have a question about the impact of this bill on Crown corporations that are considered to be critical infrastructure companies. What impact will this bill have on Crown corporations? What are the impacts of this bill on provincial Crown corporations? I am referring to Hydro-Québec and Manitoba Hydro, for example. What impact wil…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to speak today in the House about Bill C-26, an act respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making other consequential amendments. This is a critical bill, and I am very happy to see the debate being undertaken today in the House. I do know that cybersecurity is important to the Minister of Public Safety, so I will give him credit for bringin…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is also from Winnipeg, so he is a fellow Manitoban. As I outlined it in my remarks, it is not just the Conservative Party. We were alerted to this by every major civil liberties organization in the country. They wrote quite an in-depth open letter with over two dozen different concerns that they had, give or take, so we are using the information we are getting from the orga…
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Mr. Speaker, the member's question is quite a technical one. The member does mention China and what it has done. I am deeply concerned about Chinese state-sponsored actors who are conducting espionage and looking to steal data and very important national security information from various government departments and individual citizens. That is the reason that all of our Five Eyes allies, with Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague, who is also from Winnipeg and a fellow Manitoban. I take the member's point regarding former pieces of legislation that need work. The leader of the official opposition, the member for Carleton, has been very clear in his desire to protect data and the rights of Canadians, especially if we are looking at Bill C-11, which is the Liberal gove…
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Mr. Speaker, I am enjoying this Manitoba debate. There are a couple of things I would say. The government, in the last budget of 2021-22, announced about $700 million for cybersecurity. It seems that it is all going to the Communications Security Establishment, which, as I mentioned in my speech, is the government's sort of cybersecurity agency under the Minister of National Defence. It is great. …
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With regard to the illegal border crossing at Roxham Road: does the government have any plans to shut down the border crossing, and, if so, when?
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to deny he is going after hunting rifles, but I am looking at the list right now, and it has hundreds and hundreds of perfectly common, reasonable and legitimate hunting rifles on it. Members do not have to take my word for it. They can take the word of the tens of thousands of hunters who have already reached out to MPs in every party across this chamber,…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister is saying that he is protecting public safety, but the crime rates are skyrocketing in this country. Gang-related homicides have not been this high since 2005. Violent crime is up by a third since he took government seven years ago. Canadians are seeing this every day in the news in our communities, and the Liberals have now brought forward a new plan for fi…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government's record speaks for itself. It is failing to keep Canadians safe. Violent crime does not just happen; it is from failed Liberal policies. It is things like the Liberals' Bill C-5, which would end mandatory prison time for serious gun offences: things like robbery with a firearm, extortion with a firearm and firing a gun with the intent to hit someone with a bull…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has seen a 92% increase in gang-related homicides since the Liberal government took office. There were 124,000 more violent crimes last year than when the Prime Minister took office in 2015. Those are things like rape, assault and stabbings. Everything the Liberals have done for public safety has failed and made Canada a less safe place to live. When will the Prime Minister fin…
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Mr. Speaker, this winter is likely to be as cold, punishing and long as the last winter. This is very bad news for Canadian families, because we have heard that gas home heating costs are expected to increase by 100%. Six out of 10 Canadian families heat their homes with natural gas. That means there will be hundreds if not thousands of dollars more spent on home heating bills this winter by Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have spent over $100 billion on climate change, and their carbon tax has increased the cost of food, home heating and gas. Things are getting worse than ever before. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Now we are finding out that Canada, with all this spending and all these taxes, is ranked 58 out of 63 countries in the world on the climate change performance index by COP27. …
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Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful to see my hon. colleague from Manitoba in the chamber doing very well. I appreciated very much his speech. I especially appreciate the very respectful tone he had toward farmers. To be honest, I do not often feel that we are getting the respect that farmers deserve from the government, so I did greatly appreciate the member's remarks. My family have been farmers for ov…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured to put words on the record regarding the Liberal government's fall economic statement. It is arriving at a time that is very critical in Canadian history. We are faced with inflation which is at a 40-year high. Food costs and inflation have not been this high since before I was born. My generation has never seen this type of economy, where people cannot afford food,…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's comments and his reaffirming that the tax increases are going to get worse. Home heating bills are going to get more expensive. We know that the carbon tax has been in place for a number of years now, and it is increasing the cost of home heating. I appreciate that he has confirmed for Canadians that it will, in fact, be going up and they can expect higher ho…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague very sincerely for her question, but if my memory serves, it was Conservatives who brought forward a motion to cut the GST on home heating. The NDP voted against it. Unfortunately, her question does not stand. We called for a GST break so that Canadians could more adequately afford to heat their homes. We think that the carbon tax should be axed, especially g…
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Mr. Speaker, since the Liberal government came to power seven years ago, there has been a 32% increase in violent crime in Canada. There were 124,000 more violent crimes last year than when the Prime Minister first took office. That is not just a number. It is tens of thousands of families and women and children who have been harmed, most of all in our vulnerable communities. Canadians deserve far…
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Madam Speaker, as I was saying, it is very important that we have strong mechanisms to hold those in law enforcement roles accountable. I think that everyone would agree on that. These are the individuals who we empower to enforce law and order, so we need to have an equally powerful oversight body to ensure that there are no abuses of that power. Before I go into the rest of this, I do want to ve…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the Minister of Public Safety's bringing forward this important bill. It is critical that we have oversight bodies to hold those who hold power in our country accountable, notably in this bill the RCMP and the CBSA. Recently, we have been talking a lot about holding the RCMP accountable, particularly at the public safety committee. Recently in the Globe and Mail, certai…
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