House of Commons Hansard #91 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was jobs.

Topics

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That the House do now proceed to the orders of the day.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

All those opposed will please say nay.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

In my opinion the nays have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #146

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

I declare the motion carried.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:05 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That, in relation to Bill C-10, An Act to enact the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act and to amend the State Immunity Act, the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and other Acts, not more than one further sitting day shall be allotted to the stage of consideration of Senate amendments to the bill; and

That, 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for government orders on the day allotted to the consideration of the said stage of the said bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this order, and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the said stage of the bill shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Pursuant to Standing Order 67.1, there will now be a 30 minute question period.

At this time, I would invite hon. members who wish to pose questions to the government to stand to indicate how much time the Chair will need to allot for questions. Members will also be reminded that for the purposes of this 30 minute question period, preference is given to opposition members who wish to pose questions.

The hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:10 p.m.

NDP

Joe Comartin NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am not surprised by this motion. There should not be any reason why we should be surprised. It has happened 16 times since Parliament started. Since the May 2 election, this will be the 17th time.

It is a total abdication of the democratic responsibilities that the government should have, and every Government of Canada should have and has up until this point, to allow for meaningful democratic discussion and debate in the House. We are here for that. That is why it is called Parliament.

The government has never understood this. Since the Conservatives received a majority, they have run roughshod over that moral, democratic responsibility they have to the opposition parties and to Canadian citizens as a whole.

I understand the member will move another motion of this kind on Bill C-31. When will we see that one?

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:10 p.m.

Niagara Falls Ontario

Conservative

Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, that question would have to be directed to the government House leader.

The hon. member says that he would like to have meaningful debate. Let him check Hansard from this afternoon. What was all that nonsense going on, a stalling by the NDP?

I would be hard-pressed to come up with any bill that has had as extensive an amount of debate as this one has had. Indeed, one of the major components of the bill is the part that goes after drug traffickers. It has been over four years since that bill was introduced to Parliament. There have been hundreds of witnesses and hundreds of hours, days, months and years spent discussing this.

It is about time we give the people of Canada what they have asked for. They want this bill. They supported us. That is what we are delivering today.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Before we continue with questions and comments, in light of the fact that there are many more members who wish to ask questions than the 30 minutes will allow, we will default to the normal 1 minute question and 1 minute response, as we have customarily done.

The hon. member for Toronto Centre.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, we find ourselves in a rather extraordinary moment here. The reason why we are having this debate and why it came back from the Senate was because the government did not listen to the advice of the member for Mount Royal and take the amendments in the House. It realized that it had made a mistake and when the bill went to the Senate, it then proceeded to adopt the amendments that came from the member for Mount Royal with respect to the issue of counterterrorism and state sovereignty.

The least the government could do would be to allow the member for Mount Royal an opportunity to speak to those issues, since he is the one who is responsible for the only amendments that have been accepted by the government with respect to the question of counterterrorism.

Would the minister agree to have the member be heard right now?

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Nicholson Conservative Niagara Falls, ON

Mr. Speaker, this is wonderful news. I take it that the hon. member will support the bill when it comes to a vote.

I know at one point in time the Liberals supported the components with respect to drug traffickers. There are those who were cynical and who thought that the only reason they supported it in House was because they had a majority that could kill it in the Senate. Again, that would be a cynical point of view.

However, in as much as the hon. member has now said that they would have liked to have seen those amendments with respect to the anti-terrorism provisions of the bill, I take it as a sign that the Liberal Party will finally do what is right. The Liberal members will stand and support this important legislation. I want to thank them in advance for that. That is wonderful.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Mr. Speaker, I find myself in the same predicament as the Liberal leader. This legislation cannot be passed from our point of view because there are so many egregious elements in it.

Most opposition members, certainly the Green Party and from what I hear the hon. member for Mount Royal and the Liberal Party, support the section relating to the proceeds of terrorism and the ability to go after people who commit terrorist attacks with civil suits seeking financial remedies. This process would have been made much simpler had the government been prepared to consider amendments when the hon. member for Mount Royal first moved them.

That said, I find it unfortunate that we are closing down debate once again on this bill. Would the hon. Minister of Justice reconsider and allow other sections of the bill to be reopened at this time?

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Nicholson Conservative Niagara Falls, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would be hard-pressed in all the years I have been here to come up with another piece of legislation that has had as much debate as Bill C-10 has had.

If we spent another four years debating this, would the member change her mind? Let us be honest. The day before yesterday the member said that people were criticizing the bill because more criminals might be on the streets. On another day members say that everybody is going to be locked up. Those members cannot make up their minds.

Ultimately, they should be supporting this legislation because it is the right thing to do. The legislation goes after drug traffickers, the people who are bringing heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine into this country. It sends out the message that that kind of behaviour is unacceptable. That is why the member and everyone else should support this important piece of legislation.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

NDP

Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL

Mr. Speaker, the minister is anxious to pass the bill because the government has a deadline to pass it within 100 days. There are at least 10 days to go so closure does not have to be invoked on the bill.

The government invoked closure at second reading. The government said that the House did not need to debate the bill further because it would get full debate in committee. Even the Mulroney governments of 1984 and 1993 with their huge majorities accepted amendments. However, not a single amendment proposed by the opposition to try and improve this legislation was accepted. This is the last opportunity to bring the amendments to the Canadian people.

Why is the government not prepared to allow this debate to take place?

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Nicholson Conservative Niagara Falls, ON

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member said that he wants to debate this issue but if we check the record, about two hours ago the NDP wanted to adjourn the House. The NDP does not want to talk about it at all.

Let us be honest. Everybody is forthright here. If one member of the NDP were still around 100 years from now, that one person would be complaining about cracking down on crime in this country and complaining about cracking down on all the people we are going after. We are going after drug dealers. We are going after people who sexually exploit children. We are going after people in the child porn business. All we hear from those members is that they do not like the procedure, that they wanted to move an amendment.

Let us get on with it. Let us do the right thing for the people of this country.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:20 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, after a serious look at this legislation, I am able to enumerate some seven constitutionally suspect provisions. I want to know to what extent the Minister of Justice did due diligence before he tabled the bill in the House and got constitutional advice which told him that all of the provisions in all of these nine pieces of legislation were valid. Would he table that information in the House?

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:20 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Nicholson Conservative Niagara Falls, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the hon. member, and I think he knows this, that all pieces of legislation that we table in Parliament receive due diligence to make sure that they pass the constitutional test with respect to the charter and, as we are under an obligation, the Canadian Bill of Rights which was introduced in the House by Mr. Diefenbaker. We are very careful with respect to all aspects of the Constitution to make sure that all elements of legislation will pass that test. I am completely confident that every single element in this bill is completely within constitutional jurisdiction.

It is our responsibility to take steps to better protect Canadians and that is what we are doing in this legislation.

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:20 p.m.

Bloc

André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC

Mr. Speaker, I learned something when I got into politics. My first campaign was in 2000, and I have rubbed shoulders with many politicians. What they told me is that when we are elected as MPs, we become an MP for all the people. Of course we represent a certain political party and certain choices and ideologies that come from our convictions. However, once we are elected, we represent everyone. The same is true of the government. The government is led by the leader of the Conservative Party, but he is everyone's Prime Minister.

So, why is the minister doing something so undemocratic, once again, with yet another time allocation motion—the Conservatives are out to break a record—for instance, by disrespecting the Government of Quebec, which has been very clear about its requests concerning Bill C-10?

The Quebec justice minister has even said that this is a Canada he cannot identify with, and that he had no intention of paying for the additional costs associated with Bill C-10. Why does the minister want to shut down the debate?

Bill C-10—Time Allocation MotionSafe Streets and Communities ActGovernment Orders

5:20 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Nicholson Conservative Niagara Falls, ON

Mr. Speaker, I think I am missing the hon. member's point with respect to a majority within the House of Commons or indeed the Senate. We received a very clear mandate from the people of this country

One of the things we have done in the last four elections is put our crime justice agenda and our priority to stand up for victims of crime before the people of Canada. I for one am very grateful that as we made it clear to Canadians that this is what we stand for, what we want for this country, our mandate has continued to increase election after election.

Again, I thank the Canadian people for giving us this mandate. We will deliver on that mandate.