House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 39% of the vote.
Questions on the Order Paper January 31st, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the Privy Council Office responds that the dates of cabinet or cabinet committee meetings are considered cabinet confidences under section 69 of the Access to Information Act, unless they have been made public. Two meetings of the cabinet committee on priorities and planning during 2010 meet this criterion: February 3, 2010, and August 3, 2010.
Aerospace Industry December 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, today, the Minister of Industry announced an investment of $300 million for Pratt & Whitney, a major aerospace company.
This investment will create and maintain research jobs and will also encourage public and private partnerships.
This investment is expected to create and maintain over 700 highly skilled jobs during the project work phase and more than 2,000 jobs during the 15-year benefits phase.
Our government's investments in the aerospace industry give Canadian businesses the opportunity to contribute to major international projects in the aerospace and defence industries, such as the global F-35 program.
Committees of the House December 10th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
In accordance with its order of reference of Tuesday, November 16, your committee has considered Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to the National Defence Act, and agreed on Thursday, December 9 to report it with amendment.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Madam Speaker, the member for Scarborough raised a point. He said that he did not think I knew the statistics for average penalties imposed on sexual predators. He probably missed the speech I made earlier this morning. Had he been here he would have heard that, in fact, in 2008, 80% of the people convicted of sexual offences against children in this country got no minimum sentence whatsoever, because they were charged under provisions of the act that do not even have minimum penalties.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the hon. member's speech and I am pleased to hear that his party will at least support sending this very important bill to committee.
He raised the issue of mandatory minimum penalties. Of course, we have heard this from the Bloc before, but I am a little confused because a few weeks ago when we were debating Bill S-9, the bill on auto theft, there was a mandatory minimum penalty of six months for a third conviction offence of auto theft. In the House a member of his party, in fact I think it was the justice critic for his party, said that the Bloc was not rigidly ideologically against mandatory minimum penalties, and as an example, the Bloc was going to vote in favour of the bill because those members think six months is reasonable. Then when the bill went through committee, the Bloc moved a motion to have that deleted because the Bloc members decided they were in fact ideologically opposed to mandatory minimum penalties.
Perhaps the member would like to explain why including a mandatory minimum penalty for accessing child pornography and sexual exploitation of children and moving the minimum on summary conviction up from 14 days to 90 days, and on indictment from 45 days to six months is outrageous. Perhaps he could also comment on the impact on people's faith and confidence in the justice system when they see child sexual predators spend a minimum of 15 days in jail.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Madam Speaker, the member suggested that the government should have introduced perhaps one bill instead of 15 separate bills. I would simply like to remind the hon. member that the government has extreme difficulty pursuing any one of the 15 bills.
He is a member of the justice committee and he will know that his party objected to Bill S-6, the faint hope clause bill. The Liberals claimed that they were going to reintroduce it in a future government, if they were ever to form a government.
Can members imagine what would happen if all those bills were combined into one bill? It would never get through Parliament.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that the government is in close consultation with the victims' ombudsman to enhance all services to victims. We will take his suggestions and consider them in all seriousness.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that this government has recently appointed a new victims' ombudsman, Ms. Susan O'Sullivan, who is a lifelong career police officer. She has an incredible amount of experience in law enforcement and brings all of that experience to bear in advocating on behalf of victims to make sure that victims' interests are taken care of by our justice system.
The member will also know that our government has spent more than any other government on victims' services. As well, it has increased the victims' services budget this year.
We encourage all police officers, current prosecutors and law enforcement officials to bring these services to the attention of all victims. Of course, victims are the number one priority of this government.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice very frequently bring these issues up at international conferences, as do our ambassadors and foreign affairs officials around the world. They continually make the case that other jurisdictions must pass the same kinds of legislation that we have here in Canada against child sexual offences and they must enforce them.
In that regard, as the member will know because I know he listened intently to my speech, I said earlier today that Bill C-54 includes a provision, which will be in subsection 7(4.1) of the Criminal Code, that will provide extraterritorial jurisdiction for Canadian prosecution of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who engages in one of the enumerated child sexual offences while abroad.
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act December 3rd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question, for his concern and the good work he does to protect children in all of the matters he does, working on behalf of his constituents. I can assure him that the provisions of Bill C-54 will remove the possibility of a conditional sentence for a child sexual offender, and will replace it with a series of mandatory minimum penalties ranging from six months to 18 months of incarceration.