Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives need to decide whether they are going to help us stop extortions or whether they are going to obstruct us giving law enforcement the tools they need to prevent these crimes from happening. Right now it takes about six months for police agencies to connect a phone number to an IP address or to a person, to a criminal, but these Conservatives are against supporting our…
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Mr. Speaker, we are talking about catching these criminals. In order to catch these criminals, the police need the tools to do so. They need to be able to connect IP addresses and phone numbers to the criminals, which the Conservatives are obstructing and stopping from passing in the House. We brought lawful access measures to Parliament in June, yet the Conservatives have been obstructing those m…
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Mr. Speaker, I welcome my colleague to the government benches, where he is already making a real impact. In 2024, we had an auto theft summit and created a plan, and thanks to the dedication of law enforcement across this country, and focused federal action, we are seeing a downward trend in auto thefts across the country. On top of that, we presented bail and sentencing reform, which is going to …
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Mr. Speaker, in this country, we have life in prison for extortion and mandatory minimum sentences when extortion is committed by organized criminals or with a firearm. We are taking this issue very seriously. That is why I have criss-crossed the country, finding out what is needed and where the gaps are. Everywhere I have gone, police and law enforcement agencies have asked for lawful access. Tha…
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Mr. Speaker, in Canada, someone who commits extortion can serve up to 25 years in prison. We have the laws in place, but we are going to improve on those laws. That is why we have put forward a bill on bail and sentencing reform. I am glad to see that it is progressing through committee. One law that could really help these cases is lawful access. It was the second bill we presented in the House. …
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South has been the main culprit who has been filibustering all the crime bills at the justice committee this season. The Conservatives have been talking about cats and dogs when hate crimes have gone up over 70% in this country. The reason we brought this bill was to help protect those worshippers. We are doing everything on this side of the Hous…
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Mr. Speaker, it is just a fact that the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South has been blocking all crime bills at the justice committee since the beginning of the current Parliament. He has been talking about his pets instead of talking about the safety of Canadians. This is a clear pattern that we are seeing from the Conservatives; they have been weak on crime since they got here. They have b…
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Mr. Speaker, this is an interesting conversation we are having. I think the Conservatives are attempting to try to turn the tables, since I think that the message is getting out to Canadians that there have been delay tactics by the Conservatives to obstruct and stall legislation for some time in many committees. We have been talking about that for some time, so it is good that they are upset abou…
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The Conservatives are angry, Mr. Speaker, because of the tactics I am pointing at and the clear pattern we have been seeing. The powers in lawful access would help provide police the powers and the tools they need to catch extortionists, things the Conservatives bring up in the House every single day. They complain about a problem, but they do not want a solution. Also, it would help catch pedophi…
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Mr. Speaker, I cited an example of a time when the Conservative leader went to an event. At that event, he said that Bill C-9, currently, in the form that it is right now, would criminalize religions in this country. That is misleading. That is misinformation that is spreading online. It is, obviously, causing concern. I would be concerned too, if that was the truth. It is our job as parliamentari…
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Mr. Speaker, I think I would give precedence and priority to legislation, and committees do too. Committees give priority to legislative work. The example I have been giving is that there are two very important and urgent pieces of legislation at the justice committee that need to be passed in order to change the Criminal Code. There are up to 80 different changes in one piece, the bail and senten…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for that member, and I know that in the past there have been many opportunities provided to debate pieces of legislation in the House. If a member would like to appear before a committee, they have to work with that committee and it depends on the members and the consensus that is built at that committee. I hope that this member is given an opportunity because …
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Mr. Speaker, it would be very important for the justice committee to resume its work so the member can get an answer to that question. That question might eventually be before the committee. Members can debate that issue as they are supposed to be able to debate it in the committee process. We will then know what their views are when there is a vote on that issue. We will know where the issue lies…
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Mr. Speaker, my comment in terms of life was in relation to the work that is being done at the justice committee with respect to Bill C-9 and with respect to the bail and sentencing bill, Bill C-14. It is what I have been hearing from law enforcement and what I have been hearing from victims, so it was in reference to that. It is not to make light of anything. I take this issue very seriously. In …
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Mr. Speaker, I will look into it, but I just heard as I was here in the House, and I do not have the ability to confer with anybody right now, that a meeting has been scheduled. I hope, for the sake of these important measures, that a meeting is scheduled. It is something that I would advocate for as well. All the committees should be doing the work that is necessary, but I will also say that when…
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with the member. Right now, we have a comprehensive piece of legislation before the justice committee. I have been promising constituents that we will get this bill to the finish line with the help of the Conservative Party and with the help of all parliamentarians in the House. Who wants to see criminals go free? Who does not want to improve our judicial system? We…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been clear that they want stronger protections in the face of rising hate and that they want meaningful bail reform. After weeks of Conservative delay tactics and stalling in committee, I am really happy to see that they might move forward on the combatting hate crime legislation on Thursday. However, when it comes to bail reform, the Conservatives are complete hypocrit…
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Mr. Speaker, do members know who is paying the price for these Conservative games? It is Canadians. While victims' groups and frontline police officers are asking for us to act urgently and respond to the crisis, the Conservatives are spending their time filibustering with nonsense speeches about cats and dogs. Members heard that right: cats and dogs. These are procedural stunts that they are play…
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Mr. Speaker, there are provisions in place that say if a non-citizen commits a crime and serves a sentence, they are removed from Canada. CBSA works on these cases, and it prioritizes criminal cases when making removals.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, the Liberals did not block any kind of debate, as the member is well aware. The Speaker made that ruling yesterday. Second, the best thing to stop extortion is deterrence. If criminals knew they would be caught, they would not be involved in such crimes. One way to deter criminals is to make sure we give police officers the tools they need to be able to catch them. We ha…
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Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely false. We are taking these crimes very seriously. In fact, that is why the second bill we presented in this House was Bill C-2, which would give law enforcement lawful access tools to be able to catch pedophiles, catch child predators online and catch extortionists. The Conservative Party of Canada had those tools removed and put into another bill. Why is the Conser…
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Mr. Speaker, we take extortion very seriously in Canada. Extortion with a firearm carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Extortionists think they are not going to get caught. Do members know why that is? It is because we have not given law enforcement the tools they need to catch extortionists. Those tools are in our Bill C-2, but Conservatives do not agree with the bill and will not give o…
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Mr. Speaker, what is the Conservative plan? We heard it in the House earlier today; it is to stall our legislation. We brought Bill C-2. We brought Bill C-12 and Bill C-14, all measures that would help with these types of crimes. The legislation would give tougher sentences. It would make it harder for offenders to get bail. However, the Conservatives do not want to support real solutions; they ju…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have no plan. If they had a plan, they would support Bill C-14. In Bill C-14 we would make sentencing for extortionists consecutive. It would also make it harder for extortionists to get bail. That is why it is so important that the Conservatives support these measures and support Bill C-2. I think they do not support them because that would mess up their fundraising…
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Mr. Speaker, the member talked about violent crime, as well as the retail crime that happened at a jeweller's. Bill C-14 would address these exact issues so that these types of criminals who are committing organized retail crime do not get back out on the streets. It would also address home invasions, auto theft and violent crime. It would do many things. There are 80 different changes to the Crim…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has taken many steps to improve the situation of public safety in our country. When the Conservatives vote against budget 2025, they are voting against more RCMP officers and more CBSA officers. They are voting against a $1.7-billion investment in our RCMP. They are voting against pay raises for RCMP cadets. Essentially, they are voting against public safety.
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Mr. Speaker, I have good news. The Conservatives have a chance, in this Parliament, to vote for Bill C-2, to vote for Bill C-14 and to vote for Bill C-12. This weekend, I spoke to an extortion victim. They told me that it has taken the police months to get permission from the courts to link the phone number they are being extorted from to an actual suspect. Lawful access, which is in Bill C-2, wou…
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Mr. Speaker, in this country, extortion is taken very seriously. When extortion is committed, someone could serve life in prison according to the sentence in the Criminal Code of Canada. What is really important when it comes to the extortion crisis is solving extortion before charges are laid. Police across this country are asking for lawful access provisions so they can investigate these cases a…
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, child predators are the worst criminals in our country, and they should face the toughest sentences. That is exactly why we are bringing forward new legislation to toughen sentences and make sure child predators stay behind bars. I would like the Conservatives to promise that they will support that piece of legislation and Bill C-19, which is currently before th…
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Mr. Speaker, the member has risen in the House many times to address public safety concerns, and I know that his constituents in Brampton have those concerns, because they are my constituents too. In this budget, there are historic investments. There is $1.7 billion to the RCMP. We are deploying a thousand new officers and a thousand new CBSA agents. The Conservatives said they are not going to su…
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Mr. Speaker, plain and simple, child abusers should face the toughest penalties under Canadian law. We are bringing forward legislation that would protect children. I hope the Conservatives can support it. Their past record is that they have not supported the online harms legislation and have not supported lawful access tools for law enforcement so we can catch child predators. They put politics b…
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Mr. Speaker, I have been speaking to lots of families that have been victims of crimes, and many have been asking for online harms legislation. We brought legislation like that in the House, but the member was active in voting against it and made sure it did not pass in the House. Law enforcement is also asking for tools to catch predators, but the Conservatives are against this. Why are the Conse…
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Mr. Speaker, we are going to be bringing forward legislation that would address this particular issue, but I would like to ask why the Conservatives have been against every measure we have put forward to protect our children? We brought online harms legislation; they voted against it. We brought lawful access tools for law enforcement; they are against it. Why are the Conservatives protecting chil…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all about protecting the rights of children. That is why we want to give law enforcement the tools that are needed to catch predators online. We brought forward tougher sentences for child offenders. Child abusers should be put behind bars, and that is exactly where we intend to keep them, through Bill C-14 and the new legislation that we are going to be tabling in the House th…
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Mr. Speaker, we have been taking action on the issue since day one. We introduced legislation, Bill C-63, with respect to sexual offences online, but the Conservatives did not support it. We brought the lawful access provision so that pedophiles could be caught, but the Conservatives did not support it.
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Mr. Speaker, through actions, we are standing up for victims of crime. It is plain and simple: Child abusers should face the toughest penalties under Canadian law. That is why we introduced the—
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Mr. Speaker, child abusers are among the most reprehensible people in our society. That is why we have taken many measures like Bill C-63, Bill C-14 and the lawful access provision so they can be caught in the first place. We are also going to be bringing forward new—
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Mr. Speaker, the rights of victims are very important to the government. That is why we have been taking action. Let me make it very plain and simple for the Conservatives: Child abusers should face the toughest penalties under Canadian law. That is why we introduced Bill C-14. We are making sweeping reforms that would make bail stricter, that would make sentences tougher and that would make sure …
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Mr. Speaker, plain and simple, child abusers should face the toughest penalties under Canadian law. Child abusers are among the most reprehensible in our society. That is why we have introduced sweeping reforms, through Bill C-14, that would make bail stricter and sentences tougher and would make child sexual offenders serve time behind bars. However, let us not forget Bill C-63. A Liberal governm…
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Mr. Speaker, we are not silent on this issue. That is why we introduced sweeping reforms under Bill C-14 to make bail stricter and sentences tougher. We are making sure that child sexual offenders serve time behind bars, but let us not forget the conduct of the Conservatives. They refused to support Bill C-63, which would have helped protect our children against online crime and online predators, …
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Madam Speaker, I do not believe we have gone overboard at all. I believe we are addressing all the issues Canadians are concerned about. Repeated auto theft in our communities has made Canadians feel unsafe. The proceeds of these types of crimes also go to transnational organized criminal networks. These criminal networks are involved in the gun trade and in bringing dangerous drugs into our count…
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Mr. Speaker, in his speech, the member mentioned that the principle of restraint existed long before Bill C-75 and that it is still within our common law as a Supreme Court decision. That is a very important note, because there has been a lot of misunderstanding of the issue. I would like the member to clarify and get into that a little more, because the opposition Conservatives have announced tha…
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Madam Speaker, absolutely. Canadians deserve for us to care about their safety and to put victims first. The bill does that. It keeps repeat violent offenders off our streets. I would also call on all opposition parties to help us get this passed through the House as quickly as possible and get it to the committee process, where we can look at it in detail. I have been disappointed and surprised b…
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Mr. Speaker, the member raised a very important point about data. I heard about that quite a bit this summer. Just the other day, a Conservative member was yelling out at me, asking how many people have been released on bail this year. I said we do not know, because that is not information the federal government has, nor do we know what types of crimes those people who end up being released more o…
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Madam Speaker, we know that there is over-representation of indigenous communities. That issue came up as I consulted in communities. It is important to continue to work with policing so that we can make sure that policing methods are done appropriately and not biased and that our courts are not biased when applying these rules and regulations. It is important to continue to have good training for…
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Mr. Speaker, as has been mentioned in the House several times today, the principle of restraint was not created in Bill C-75. It was ruled on in a Supreme Court decision, in the Antic decision in 2017, although the principle of restraint is something that was applied in courtrooms far before that as well. I would like to ask the member about the feedback she is getting from her community on Bill C…
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Madam Speaker, gender-based violence sexual offences have been top of mind for our government. In Bill C-75, we have strengthened our position when it comes to the justice system. We would be further strengthening it in the bill that is before us, by not allowing courts to impose conditional sentences that can be served in the community. It is important to make sure the offenders stay behind bars.…
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Madam Speaker, most of the issues the member opposite has brought up are provincial issues. If they would like to deal with them, they can do so in their provincial courtrooms. When offenders do not listen to court orders, they can enforce those orders. At the provincial level, the court has every right to do so, and it should. When sureties come forward and put up a bond, it should retrieve that …
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Madam Speaker, the latter principle is addressed in the bill, and it would not apply to reverse onus cases. The member made an interesting comment about young offenders. He said that, when they are incarcerated for a period of a year or so, they come out as even more hardened criminals. I thought that was an interesting observation that he highlighted. For this bill, we consulted with a lot of sta…
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Mr. Speaker, I will begin by saying that I will not be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg North and will take the remaining 12 minutes allotted for my speech. I am sure the member for Winnipeg North will have an opportunity to address the House on this important matter as well. The bail and sentencing reform act would deliver on that commitment. It would balance firmness with fairness.…
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