Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the following reports: a report of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas GLOBE COP27 Legislators Summit, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, November 6-18, 2022; a report of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas 7th Gathering of ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, Santiago, Chile, April 20-22,…
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the annual report of the Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime for 2024-25.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague also sits on the justice committee and has contributed to the study of Bill C‑16 and many other important pieces of legislation. This bill, Bill C‑16, has been waiting to be brought forward for many years. Women's groups have come forward and have told governments and politicians to enact, finally, a piece of legislation that would protect them. It would also protect chil…
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, what this does is basically give tools. The objective of Bill C‑16 is to protect victims. It gives tools to police enforcement and those who work in the justice realm, so that they will be able to catch predators faster. It imposes on service providers to share the information. Bill C‑16 will be a helpful remedy.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague sits with me at the justice committee, and we have done tremendous work on various bills, including Bill C‑16, through hearing testimony from experts, going through clause-by-clause and making amendments, so I want to thank him for his collaboration on the committee. The purpose of this specific bill is to protect victims and children. That is the focus of Bill C‑16. The …
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise this evening on behalf of the citizens of Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel to speak to Bill C-16, the protecting victims act, at third reading. Across the country, we are facing a stark reality. In my home province of Quebec, there have been 10 femicides since January. A woman is killed in Canada every 48 hours. Bad actors are taking advantage of rapidly chang…
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Mr. Speaker, as chair of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas, I was proud to welcome last week, here in Ottawa, more than 80 parliamentarians from 25 countries from across Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside indigenous leaders and youth, for the 10th gathering of the Open Parliament Network. ParlAmericas has become the leading interparliamentary organization of the western hemisphere, conn…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her leadership. Violence driven by control and fear leaves deep and lasting harm, and far too many women and children are living with those consequences. That is why we introduced Bill C-16, one of the most significant updates to Canada's criminal justice system in generations. It would criminalize coercive control before violence turns lethal and would streng…
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Mr. Speaker, our government will always protect the Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We will always defend them. We are not going to speak on that at this stage. We will wait for the results to come in and see what happens in Alberta. However, the Prime Minister has been very clear. The rules are clear. A majority is 50% of the votes plus one. There are laws on that an…
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Mr. Speaker, our party will always follow the laws regarding clarity and the threshold of 50% plus one. We have no intention of going against that law, which is very clear. We believe in democracy. We will wait and see what happens in Alberta.
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the following reports: a report of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas' bilateral mission in Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico, from March 2 to 6, 2026, and a report of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas respecting the 17th gathering of ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gen…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice's comments will always support the fact that this government is the party of the charter. We are always going to protect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Mr. Speaker, I will give my answer in English this time because I am more familiar with the English terminology. We already have in the Criminal Code the threshold of “reasonable grounds to suspect”. It can be found in several sections of the Criminal Code, including section 487.017. This already exists in the Criminal Code. We also think that “reasonable grounds to suspect” is higher than the thr…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe that all Canadians want this bill to be sent quickly to the Standing Committee on National Security so that it can be studied there and then passed. In light of the debates that took place in the House this week on this fine bill, I see that there is goodwill on the part of members, who want to discuss it and address this issue. I appreciate that. It is a very important bill…
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Mr. Speaker, I did not speak to Bill C-2, but I am taking the opportunity this morning, as the member opposite rightly pointed out, to state that I am in total favour of Bill C-22. Although we work through legislation in the House, nothing is perfect. No bill is perfect in its format nor sometimes even in its content, and that is why we have committees, where members from across the aisle from all…
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Mr. Speaker, it an honour for me to take the floor today and to speak on behalf of Bill C-22. I rise as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, in support of our government's bill on lawful access. The legislation is really about one simple thing: keeping Canadians safe in a digital world that criminals are increasingly exploiting. Let us be clear abo…
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Mr. Speaker, that is duly noted. I have two points. First, the member opposite will support Bill C-22, and I applaud him for that. The second point is that we understand that a review of the committee is long overdue, and the minister will report to the House as soon as he has news on that.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise this evening to answer the question from my colleague, the member opposite, whom I have had the privilege and delight to work with on NSICOP, as a former member and former chair of that very same committee. I want to highlight just how seriously the government takes the work of NSICOP. During my time as chair and as a member, the committee submitted a special …
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) and consistent with the policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Treaty between Canada and Japan on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters”, done in Ottawa on December 12, 2025.
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Mr. Speaker, I would say right off the bat that it is not what the Minister of Identity and Culture said. That being said, this bill is very important. Nothing in the bill says that, if the Bible is quoted and it is not done with the wilful intent to impute hatred on an identifiable group, then it would be captured. That individual or that group of people would not be captured.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, that is precisely what is addressed in the bill we will have the opportunity to vote on this evening. I hope this bill will pass unanimously, as its sole purpose is to protect Canadians so that they feel safe. A very specific provision has been included in Bill C-9 to make it clear that a person who recites the Bible or the Torah in the proper manner and in good faith will no…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the colleague should revert to his party and see within his ranks because therein lies the division on this bill, which is only coming in to be able to protect Canadians. On this side of the House, we are all united and we are all for the adoption of protecting the people and individuals who are subject to hate every day. On this side of the House, we are unanimous. The divisi…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a very important question because there has been a lot of fearmongering and misinformation being put out by the Conservative Party, and Canadians have responded in emails. They are fretting, asking about what is contained in Bill C-9. Bill C-9 is there to protect Canadians. As for the rise in hate, I have enumerated stats from Stats Canada, and there are very serious percentages…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure and honour for me to rise as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to speak about and be in strong support of the government's combatting hate bill, strong and decisive measures in Bill C-9 that would protect Canadians from hate, intimidation and violence, while fully respecting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, …
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Mr. Speaker, for three long weeks in early 2022, our national capital region was not merely disrupted; it was shaken to the core. Illegal blockades seized our streets, paralyzed our capital and choked off critical trade corridors. Law-abiding Canadians were trapped in their own neighbourhoods, while workers feared for their livelihoods, and families feared for their safety. At a time when our coun…
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Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to share my time with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Emergency Management.
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Mr. Speaker, let me be crystal clear. It is inappropriate to comment any further on this issue. On this side of the House, as I have mentioned before, we respect our institutions. Legal arguments belong to the courts and not on the floor of the House of Commons. It is rich that some of these comments and questions are coming from the member whose intervention, I find, denotes a certain character. …
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Mr. Speaker, as the member was online, I have the report to table.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, these crimes that are being committed on a practically daily and weekly basis are simply unacceptable. We are committed to putting forward robust laws to be able to tackle these issues. It would be a pleasure for me to sit down with the member and go over his PMB. We will certainly engage in making sure that Canadians are always protected.
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Madam Speaker, what is unacceptable are the hours and hours of filibustering and obstruction by the members of the justice committee to not move forward with the bill. It is also a shame to hear the member opposite talk about the combatting hate act as a censorship bill. What does the member opposite call censorship? Does he think it is okay to target synagogues? Does he think it is okay to threat…
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Madam Speaker, there has been hour after hour of filibustering in committee. We see that the Conservative members are divided. Some support the bill, which is a good piece of legislation, while others do not. Unfortunately, Canadians are the ones who are paying the price because we must address the reprehensible acts that we are seeing. We need to take action. We need to go ahead and pass this bil…
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Madam Speaker, we witnessed a committee meeting that lasted from 4:30 p.m. to about two o'clock in the morning and that was one long filibuster. It was a fine example of reading whatever passage inspired members but had absolutely nothing to do with the bill. This is a tactic used to prevent the bill from moving forward. It is therefore essential that the House adopt the motion so that we can move…
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Madam Speaker, we have seen a rise in incidents of anti-Semitism, including two shootings at synagogues just last week. It is literally a reminder that Bill C-9 needs to pass, and to pass quickly, to send a strong message to Canadians that hate crimes are heinous and must be denounced. That is why we are acting on Bill C-9, to make it illegal to block or impede someone's access to their community …
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Madam Speaker, the fact is that there was a debate in committee, like there is for every bill. After debating the removal of this exemption, all members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights voted in favour of removing it. In our opinion, it was the right thing to do.
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Madam Speaker, partisan politics is failing our most vulnerable communities. Partisan politics is failing our response to hate-motivated crimes and violence in this country, and when it prevents Parliament from acting to protect Canadians, then partisan politics is failing Canada itself. The motion before us today is a response to that failure. Bill C-9, the combatting hate act, was introduced by …
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Madam Speaker, we are here today discussing the process. The reason we have presented this motion is that we at committee have been trying very seriously to get the bill studied so it can come to a conclusion, but we have been unable to. As a matter of fact, the member who asked the question has done nothing but filibuster and obstruct the work of the committee, invoking his love of cats and dogs.
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Madam Speaker, there were many issues discussed at committee, and I remember very clearly that when the Bloc Québécois, in the House, at second reading, proposed the removal of such an exemption, the colleague who asked me the question said that everything was on the table. Therefore, everything was on the table at committee, and we disposed of that very same issue at committee.
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Mr. Speaker, our new Liberal Prime Minister was given a clear mandate by Canadians to tighten bail, strengthen sentences and keep repeat violent offenders in jail, where they belong. After months and months of obstruction by the Conservatives at committee, holding Bill C-14 hostage and running down the clock by talking about cats and dogs, they finally relented last week and allowed the bill to mo…
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to address the Conservative motion presented today on public safety, extortion and our immigration system. While this is an important conversation, I have been following the language used by the Conservative members very closely. Unfortunately, it is based on flawed assumptions, misinformation and political posturing, rather than a thoughtful, evidenc…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, and I would like to take this opportunity to tell him that I also enjoy working with him and my Conservative Party colleague on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Our government has introduced several bills to keep Canadians safe. I know that Bill C‑14 has passed, and I hope that we will be able to study Bill C‑9 at committee tomorrow. I very muc…
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Mr. Speaker, in fact and in reality, the government has been very ambitious in bringing forward a crime package to ensure the security of Canadians. We have heard time and time again of what is happening on the streets, and so we have been very bold in our approach, bringing forward Bill C-5, Bill C-2, Bill C-8, Bill C-9, Bill C-12, Bill C-14 and soon Bill C-16. We are very much looking forward to…
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Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing the same talking points from the Conservatives on Bill C-5, saying we somehow removed mandatory jail time for extortion. Let me set the record straight, because Canadians deserve to hear this clearly and not just hear slogans. I have a news flash: Bill C-5 did not eliminate mandatory jail time for serious extortion offences. In fact we deliberately maintained mandatory…
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Mr. Speaker, the truth is that tariffs on steel and aluminum, canola, lumber, autos and other sectors are not the result of Canadian engagement; they are part of a global surge in protectionism driven by decisions in other capitals. The government will continue to defend the rules-based trading system, protect our workers and create new trade opportunities for our businesses.
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Mr. Speaker, we are here to talk about bail reform, so I would hope that the member opposite would stay on topic. After the Conservatives' refusal to pass Bill C-14, the bail and sentencing reform act, before Christmas, I welcome the members opposite's recent support of a Liberal motion to study Bill C-14 in three days and move it forward. Canadians will be watching the justice committee this Wedn…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are right to expect that when the government engages abroad, it is to bring home opportunities, more secure jobs, more resilient supply chains and more diversified markets. That is exactly what the government has been doing, helping Canadians navigate economic headwinds, opening new opportunities in fast-growing regions and defending Canadians against unfair trade measures. …
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South's question is deeply misleading. That member asserts that the Liberals rejected not about 20 but 17 attempts to advance critical bail reforms. That is simply not true. What we rejected were Conservative attempts to derail and kill the combatting hate act. That bill would make it illegal to publicly display hate symbols when the goal is to p…
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Mr. Speaker, let me be perfectly clear that the government is taking action and wants to hold criminals responsible, but legislation alone will not fix the problem. The provinces and territories play a critical role in administering justice, conducting bail hearings, supervising individuals on release, ensuring compliance with conditions and investing in programs that will prevent reoffending. The…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise in the House on behalf of the people of Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, the riding I represent. I would like to wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope for a productive year ahead. Speaking of productivity, I rise today to respond to a question raised last fall regarding former Bill C-75. At that time, the Conservatives chose partisanship over collabora…
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Mr. Speaker, budget 2025 will spend less on government operations and cut waste so we can invest more in growing our economy and protecting essential programs that make life more affordable for Canadians. For example, once again, the Prime Minister announced the creation of the new Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which will provide additional significant support for more than 12 million C…
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Mr. Speaker, our government has been relentlessly focused on bringing down costs for Canadians. Broadly speaking, we are doing this in two ways. Through budget 2025 we laid the groundwork to unlock generational investments in Canadian businesses, workers and resources to build a stronger and more resilient Canadian economy. While we implement those long-term and strategic initiatives, we are also …
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