Parliamentary Speeches
812 speeches by Gary Anandasangaree — Page 15 of 17
Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I must profoundly disagree with many of the premises of my colleague from Edmonton West's statement. I want to probe into one issue that has come forth, which is the financing of these protests. One report says that 1,100 of the donors to this protest were also donors to the January 6 Capitol Hill riot. Of course, there has been a lot written about them and the motivations there. We a…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill. I rise today with a very heavy heart to speak in support of the invocation of the Emergencies Act by our government and the motion in this House to affirm the government's decision. I want to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional unceded lands of the Algonquin people. I want to thank the man…
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Madam Speaker, this gives me an opportunity to respond to this question, which has come up a number of times. I want to specifically direct the hon. member to the Report to the Houses of Parliament: Emergencies Act Consultations. It outlines all of the measures taken by the government in respect to addressing the situation we have seen. First and foremost, I think that starting on January 31, ther…
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Madam Speaker, no, that is not what this entails. We have a specific set of situations right now in a number of different areas, including Ottawa, Windsor, Coutts, Emerson and Surrey, that do pose a national emergency. This is in direct response to the situation at hand and it does mean that this should be invoked. I hope the government never has to invoke this again, but we are in a situation whe…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question posed by my friend opposite. This certainly does set a precedent in terms of protest. We cannot have blockades of this nature, which literally bring our economy to a halt. We have gone through the pandemic. We have serious challenges with transport across Canada right now, and we need to make sure that all of our systems are working properly. If the governm…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my colleague for Burnaby South on his baby. I have seen the member engage on many occasions with protesters over the many years I have known him. This particular time he has not. The opposition has advised the Prime Minister to engage with people at the illegal blockades that are here. What are his reflections on engagement with those wh…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's intervention was very thoughtful. I want to highlight that a number of speakers have suggested the Prime Minister meet with those who are illegally blocking Parliament Hill and engage in dialogue with them. I just want my friend opposite to reflect and maybe give us a sense of why that is not possible and why political engagement at that level is inappropriate, just giv…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend opposite for his very entertaining presentation today. I want to put on the record of the House the report to Parliament on the Emergencies Act consultations and the extensive work that was undertaken, not just by the Prime Minister, but by the whole of government. I ask the member opposite to reflect on that. He did mention a couple of things I want to probe him on,…
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Madam Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that the oversight and certainty she is looking for are certainly there within the regulations. This is meant to target individuals who are breaking the law. Of course, the issue of proportionality, as well as reasonableness, is embedded in the regulations and I invite her to reflect on that. It is important to distinguish between those who may have inn…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I want to start by acknowledging that I am speaking to members from the traditional lands of the Algonquin people. I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak to Bill C-5. I intend to focus on some areas where there appears to be some misunderstanding about the impact that repealing mandatory minimum penalties from the Criminal Code will have on our justice system and society more …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to ensure that the idea behind Bill C-5 is put forward this evening. Bill C-5 advances an evidence-based approach to sentencing policies in Canada. It proposes to repeal MMPs for certain firearm offences and all those in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in order to address unjust outcomes for indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and marginalized Ca…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honour Dr. Nagula Tharma Sangary, a Tamil-Canadian scientist and educator. He obtained an electrical engineering degree from Texas A&M University, masters and doctoral degrees from McMaster University and an MBA from Oxford. He was a pioneer in wireless technology and served as a principal scientist at BlackBerry. He was an adjunct professor at both McMaster Universi…
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Madam Speaker, I cannot speak for the Senate. The Senate is independent of our government, but we certainly will be supporting members throughout the passage of the motion in the House of Commons today, as well as supporting it through the process in the Senate.
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Madam Speaker, today's subject is a constitutional amendment that would essentially give Saskatchewan a right that it should have had to tax CPR. That is the fundamental issue. Previously, without this amendment, that would have been limited. I therefore submit that this is moving toward fairness, and it is up to the Government of Saskatchewan to impose a tax policy that is appropriate.
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Madam Speaker, obviously, my friend has not known my politics long enough to understand that I have always said it is important to tax corporations. Of course, as a party we believe that and have acted on it consistently. We look forward to working with all parties on issues of importance, particularly in this case to ensure that Saskatchewan has all the tools available to it so we do not differen…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Milton for his leadership and for ensuring that Canada's team does very well in Beijing. I really look forward to the medals they bring home. To his point, this allows Saskatchewan a number of important things. First, it equalizes the tax playing field for all businesses so there is no unfair advantage and no unfair burden on other corporations that do not hav…
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Madam Speaker, I know our not supporting the ratification of this motion by way of unanimous consent was noted by the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek. As the member knows, we get a number of unanimous consent motions, and something of this nature, with the magnitude of amending the Constitution, requires debate, and it is the type of debate we are having today. It allowed the government a num…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friend's very important speech today. I want to delve a bit into the UC motion in question that came about in December. As my friend knows, the Province of Saskatchewan passed this legislation on November 21. The UC motion came to Parliament in December, and this is the first time we are having a debate. I know the member has been a parliamentarian for many years. In…
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Madam Speaker, I want to assure the hon. member for Saskatoon—Grasswood that the Saskatchewan caucus in our party is absolutely supportive of this motion, and of course, our government is supporting this going forward. I do want to ask the member about the Senate. I know there is an independent group of senators in the Senate. What kind of measures and discussions has the opposition had with senat…
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Madam Speaker, at the outset, let me acknowledge that I am speaking to you from the traditional lands of the Algonquin people. I also want to acknowledge the lands from which our colleagues are joining us today. It is a solemn honour and pleasure for me to rise in this debate to speak on the proposed constitutional amendment in relation to Saskatchewan. It is not every day a motion for a resolutio…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice undertook an extensive preliminary search in order to determine the number of litigation files and quantity of information that could fall within the scope of the question, as well as the amount of time that would be required to prepare a comprehensive response. It was concluded that producing and validating a comprehensive response to this question would req…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to honour the extraordinary life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Archbishop Tutu was a shining light for hope and justice around the world. He risked his life to champion human rights and advocate for peace and racial equality in his beloved South Africa, and was instrumental in the fight to end apartheid. As chair of the truth and reconciliation commission in a post-apartheid Sout…
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Madam Speaker, I want to pick up on my friend opposite's last comment respecting the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, or CDSA. The amendments to the CDSA would allow prosecutors to also offer diversion. So, there is pre-charge, as well as post-charge, diversion in the bill. I also want to speak about his reflections on the CSOs provided for here and whether he can give us some insight into how…
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Madam Speaker, concerning the conditional sentencing orders, what are the member's reflections on the provisions that allow for the expanded use of these orders for inmates?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's intervention was very thoughtful and I agree with most of what he said. I want to assure him that the issue of gun violence is something we are very concerned about, and our government will take decisive action in that regard. With respect to Bill C-5, I wonder if the member could speak about conditional sentencing orders and how they will impact the criminal justice sy…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the member opposite about the conditional sentencing orders that are being introduced here in Bill C-5, to see how that will impact his community and ensure that there is more fairness in the criminal justice system.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to welcome our new colleague from Kitchener Centre to the House. I congratulate him on his election. With respect to the bill itself and to conditional sentencing orders, what does he think the overall impact of that will be on ensuring that we have off-ramps for those who are just getting involved in the criminal justice system? Could he comment on its potential impact…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his re-election. I want to pick up on a couple of his comments, especially with respect to evidence of the disproportional impact of MMPs on racialized communities, particularly indigenous and Black communities. There is overwhelming social science research and a number of court cases that have indicated that this does have a disproportional impact. Al…
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Madam Speaker, Bill C-5 is reintroduced from the previous Bill C-22. The issues that my hon. colleague discusses are very important. They are in the hands of our Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, and our government is reviewing the requests of British Columbia and other places with respect to drugs. We will make decisions in short order.
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On a point of order, Madam Speaker, are we in questions and comments right now? I believe my friend opposite asked me a specific question that I would be glad to—
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Madam Speaker, I am a little speechless as to how to respond to my friend opposite, because there is very little truth in what he said. Let me very clearly—
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Madam Speaker, at the outset, let me just be clear: Bill C-22 was introduced earlier this year. It was in our platform. On September 20, Canadians gave us a mandate to reintroduce that bill, because we promised to do so within the first 100 days. That is exactly what Bill C-5 represents. I have a very direct question for my friend opposite. He has not used the words “systemic racism” at all. He ha…
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Madam Speaker, I fully appreciate the concerns outlined by the member opposite. The 18 specific incidents that the member refers to will not be impacted in any way by the repeal proposed in Bill C-5. We fully recognize the concerns respecting guns, not just in Quebec but also in Ontario and other places, and we will take decisive action in that regard as per our platform. I do want to emphasize th…
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Madam Speaker, I would ask the member a very specific question with respect to off-ramps in the criminal justice system. I know that diversion programs are very important, as well as for judges to have discretion in sentencing. Could the member talk about his experience with the types of supports that are available for young people who want to get out of the criminal justice system?
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Mr. Speaker, I want to put some facts on the table. With respect to addressing the issues of systemic racism, in 2018 and 2019 I had the opportunity to go to many communities across Canada, and one thing that came up over and over again as we developed the national anti-racism strategy was the impact of mandatory minimum penalties on racialized communities, particularly indigenous and Black commun…
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Madam Speaker, one of the statistics that my friend did not mention is on the racialized nature of incarceration. For example, 42% of women in federal penitentiaries are indigenous women. As another example, 7% of the male population in prison are Black males whereas they only represent 3% of the population. He also did not mention the term “systemic racism” at all in the context of this debate. I…
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo on his recent election. I know he has a great deal of experience as a Crown attorney, and I appreciate the question he posed. The mandatory minimum sentences that we are proposing to repeal are 14 of the 57 that are in the Criminal Code right now. This reflects that we are maintaining the ones that involve serious crimin…
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Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to join the House this morning to speak to Bill C-5, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. I want to acknowledge that we are gathered here on the traditional unceded lands of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples. This bill fulfills a platform commitment to reintroduce former Bill C-22 within 100 days, and I am proud to work with the …
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Madam Speaker, in other words, this would apply when an offender uses a firearm that may otherwise be legal. A review of the case law reveals that many indigenous offenders and marginalized groups who have experienced significant trauma, including the legacy of residential schools, commit non-violent offences using long guns. Maintaining the four-year mandatory minimum penalties that relate to the…
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree that there are many issues within our society that need attention. Our government is focusing on housing, including a national housing strategy, but as a government we are also investing in youth programs that would enable youth to be proactive and would enable them to get out of the criminal justice system. The amendments that we are bringing forward are off-ramp…
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Madam Speaker, we have taken very important steps today with Bill C-5, which is the reintroduction of Bill C-22. It was part of our platform commitment. We promised to introduce this within 100 days, and we had the mandate from Canadians to do that. We look forward to a very robust discussion at committee and at every stage of the bill. I look forward to working with my friend opposite on this.
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Madam Speaker, let me divide this into two. With respect to offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, six mandatory minimum penalties are being repealed. This reflects that drug use, possession and so on affect health. We are trying to have an approach that will allow individuals to get the support they need. Whether they need mental health support, counselling or rehab, it allows th…
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Madam Speaker, let me reframe this discussion. Bill C-5 is meant to address the systemic inequities within the criminal justice system. We see that the numbers speak for themselves. If I may, I will just repeat those numbers. Three per cent of Canadians are Black, yet 7% of the prison population are Black offenders. We have an indigenous population of 5% across the country, yet they represent 30% …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to emphasize what is in the legislation, and that is to ensure health care workers and health care facilities are protected. During this pandemic, it is important that the federal government play an essential role in ensuring that our frontline workers, our essential workers, and our health care workers are protected against those who would intimidate and abuse them. That…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Kingston and the Islands. Let me start by acknowledging what an important day today is. It is a day of action to end violence against women, and I recognize all the women who have died in Canada and around the world and the incredible women who continue to fight each and every day. As a society, we have a long way to go to end violence aga…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize the need to protect health care workers and facilities that are served by the health care sector. It is such an important aspect of the fight against COVID. Physicians, nurses, PSWs or any support staff going to work in the morning to help Canadians should not be facing intimidation, risk or threats to their lives. That is why we are bringing forward this important…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize that the legislation in front of us does give judges the discretion and allows them to look at aggravating and mitigating circumstances in sentencing. It is an essential tool that judges are able to use. We believe the judiciary is well positioned to make those decisions and impart sentences at those points in time.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, yes.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I am delighted to speak this afternoon from the unceded lands of the Algonquin people. I want to acknowledge that I represent Scarborough—Rouge Park, the lands of many indigenous nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit. I want to first thank the people of Scarborough—Rouge Park for their incredible support. I was able to secure over 63% of votes in the last election, and i…
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Madam Speaker, I always enjoy working with my colleague. He was a very constructive member of the committee. However, I have to disagree with him. Child care is so fundamental to families in Canada. When I was knocking on doors, I spoke with many families about the need for affordable child care. Ontario is a rare exception in that it has not signed on. I am very hopeful that it will sign on. It w…
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