Bill C-13 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other amendments)

This enactment amends various provisions of the Criminal Code in relation to criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other matters.
The amendments respecting criminal procedure provide for, among other things,
(a) the use of a means of telecommunication to forward warrants for the purpose of endorsement;
(b) changes to the process with respect to the challenge of jurors;
(c) a new election for the accused where a preferred indictment has been filed against him or her or where the Supreme Court of Canada orders a new trial;
(d) an appeal of a superior court order with respect to things seized lying with the court of appeal;
(e) summary dismissal by a single judge of the court of appeal when an appeal has erroneously been filed with that court; and
(f) a summary conviction trial with respect to co-accused that can proceed where one of the co-accused does not appear.
The amendments respecting the language of the accused clarify the application of provisions related to that matter.
The amendments respecting sentencing provide for, among other things,
(a) clarifications with respect to the application of impaired driving penalties;
(b) the power to order an offender not to communicate with identified persons while in custody and the creation of an offence for failing to comply with the order;
(c) the power to delay the sentencing proceedings so that an offender can participate in a provincially approved treatment program;
(d) an increase of the maximum fine that can be imposed for a summary conviction offence to $5,000 and a change with respect to the calculation of the period of imprisonment to be imposed in default of payment of a fine;
(e) the suspension of a conditional sentence order or a probation order during an appeal;
(f) in the case of a person serving a youth sentence who receives an adult sentence, clarification that the remaining portion of the youth sentence is converted to an adult sentence; and
(g) the power of a court to order, on application by the Attorney General and after convicting a person of the offence of luring a child by means of a computer system, the forfeiture of things used in relation to that offence.
The enactment amends the description of the offence of conveying information on betting and book-making so that the offence encompasses the conveying of that information by any means and makes related changes to the exemption provided with respect to the use of a pari-mutuel system.
Finally, amendments are also made to reclassify the offence of possession of break and enter instruments into a dual procedure offence.

Criminal Code

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I applaud my colleague for giving a very interesting 20 minute speech and outlining a whole list of issues about which he has concerns.

When we make changes, as is being proposed in Bill C-13, clearly, some people would call this a housekeeping bill, but it covers off a whole lot of different smaller things that will continue to make Canada a stronger and more effective country, which is what we all want.

Are there other issues that the hon. member would like to have seen added to Bill C-13, since he has been following it in his role on the justice committee?

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, I will provide some background to remind people of the status of Bill C-13. The intent of the bill to amend the Criminal Code, criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other amendments, is to further modernize the criminal justice system and make it more efficient and effective. Some of the amendments make certain processes more effective through the greater use of technology and by consolidating and rationalizing existing provisions.

This is a general administration bill. It corrects a lot of minor changes to the code. There are some substantive changes to the Criminal Code of Canada, but it makes a lot of updated and needed suggestions.

At the outset, I support the bill. I have some strong feelings about certain parts of it that I want to speak to and also some important opening remarks on process.

I give credit to the government for bringing forward a bill to make these corrections. It is ironic, however, while it acknowledges that the criminal justice system and the Criminal Code need amendments from time to time, either for modernization or things that have been put in incorrectly, it does it at a time when not that long ago it stopped the funding for the court challenges program.

The court challenges program was used in a number of cases to help protect the rights of people and helped lead to some of the amendments in this bill. Someone on the government side at the time asked, “Why would we fund a program to challenge our own laws”, as if they are always perfect and the Government of Canada, whichever party is in power, never makes mistakes. Now we have proof opposite.

We have a bill that would correct a number errors or would at least improve a number of items in the Criminal Code. It is proof right there that it was a mistake to cancel the court challenges program, which was specifically to help protect the rights of people who could not afford to protect themselves.

Once again, I give credit to the government for bringing forward a bill to improve the criminal justice system and the Criminal Code, with a number of improvements, proving that there need to be changes from time to time. Yet it is ironic that at the same it dismantled the Law Commission of Canada, which was there for the very purpose of reviewing the Criminal Code and criminal justice system as a non-partisan body of experts and to give us recommendations as to how to make the improvements.

It is ironic that the government is bringing forward numerous improvements. We all acknowledge in the House, and I think we are all supportive of it, that these improvements are needed, yet at the same time the government is taking away expert, time proven mechanisms to come up with those types of improvements in the future so we can keep making them.

I will comment briefly too on something that was said during the previous debate on the bill. There was a suggestion by a member that the opposition parties were less effective in keeping our streets safe, which is totally untrue. It was proven time and time again by the expert witnesses that the provisions brought forward by the current government to make streets safe had been proven not to work in the past and in some conditions would make Canada less safe.

The opposition pointed out that a vast majority of criminals reoffended and that none of the provisions the government originally proposed would help make Canada's streets safer. In fact, people were remaining in the universities of the jail longer so they learn how to be more effective criminals and, in a modern changing society, were kept away from any rehabilitation, any chance of reintegrating in society in a safe way.

Therefore, the opposition has been fighting for programs that would do exactly that, with rehabilitative types of sentences that would be more appropriate, expanding the jurisdictions of judges as opposed to limiting them, which the government was doing, and ultimately making our streets safer.

I want to go through a number of specific items about which I feel strongly. I am going to go through them first as opposed to going through all the items in the bill because I will never get through it in my 30 minutes. Because it is such a large bill with so many amendments. I will talk about some of the ones that I am particularly supportive of and think are important.

The first one is the amendment that updates the $2,000 default maximum fine for so-called summary conviction offences. At present this amount is the maximum monetary penalty that can be imposed for a summary conviction offence where no other maximum amount is provided for in a federal statute. This amount has remained the same since 1985. The bill would raise the current maximum from $2,000 to $10,000, by increasing the maximum amount for summary conviction offences, when it would be deemed that the monetary penalty would be an appropriate sentence.

It is 20 years since this has been changed. We have to keep up with the times to ensure the penalty is severe in today's dollars, but more important, we do not want to take away the jurisdiction of the judges to choose the summary conviction route in cases where they can proceed by summary or by indictment. That could clog up the courts longer. They are already clogged up. We just finished the debate on appointing more judges because of the backlog. When it is more appropriate to proceed by summary, we would want a judge or a prosecutor to do that, but they cannot do it if the fine is so low as to not be significantly punitive.

The second amendment, and it is a very serious and excellent one, relates to prisoners contacting witnesses or victims. I am sure anyone who deals with agencies that work with women or with victims' protection agencies will know that a prisoner can have a devastating effect on a person's life from within prison. It is easy to get messages and contacts out, particularly to women who are afraid to start with and have been terrorized and abused.

The criminal code currently provides for no contact orders at various stages of the judicial process. A judge may impose such an order when an accused is released on bail, is held on remand or when the offender is under a probation order. However, the criminal code does not currently provide for such an order to be imposed on an offender when he or she is serving the custodial portion of his or her sentence.

The existing measures in correctional institutions regarding unwanted communications from inmates are generally effective and in such situations, where procedures exist, are addressed on a case by case basis. The amendment grants the sentencing courts an additional means to protect victims and other identified persons from undesirable communications by permitting the imposition of a non-contact order on offenders while they are serving their jail term.

A breach of such a non-contact order would be punishable by a maximum of two years imprisonment. Therefore, it not only prohibits prisoners from trying to make contact with victims or witnesses and trying to terrorize people further, but it also provides a penalty for doing that.

The next area I want to talk about shows how we have to modernize the justice system related to technology improvements. The world changes and there are several amendments in this omnibus administrative bill to make updates for technological changes. This amendment will serve to clarify the application of impaired driving penalties as they pertain to offenders or to participate in a provincial or territorial alcohol ignition interlock device program.

A number of provinces, Alberta and Quebec if I remember, offer these programs now. They enable offenders, who have been prohibited by a sentencing court from driving for a specified period, to operate a vehicle if the vehicle is equipped with an alcohol ignition interlock device, but only after the expiry of the minimum probation period provided under the Criminal Code.

In order to tighten up the application of this provision, the amendment clarifies that offenders are only authorized to drive during the prohibition period if they are registered in an alcohol ignition interlock device program and if they comply with the terms and conditions of the program. Obviously, they would have to be registered and they have to be following the rules of that program.

The next amendment will once again, as the bill we just passed, try to help reduce the waiting list in the justice system and the backlog. As we all know, justice delayed is justice denied. We want to get on with things and this amendment gives more options to the accused to assist in avoiding unnecessary jury trials when the accused prefers to be tried by a judge alone. Additional procedures would clarify the cases of summary convictions trials which involve multiple defendants. The court may continue the proceedings against all of them even when one of the co-defendants fails to attend.

The next area I want to talk about is one I am particularly pleased with as I am sure my Liberal Party colleagues from Quebec will be as well and from other areas of Canada where French is spoken or a person has French as a first language. It is to ensure that people have the right to have trials and procedures in their own language, in their mother tongue, whether it be French or English is guaranteed.

These rights are an example of the advancement of the language rights through legislative means as provided in subsection 16.(3) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and have been in force in Canada since January 1, 1990. However, since the coming into force of these provisions studies and public consultations have demonstrated that these language rights are often misunderstood by accused persons, the bar, crown prosecutors and judges.

This situation may well result in some accused not invoking their rights in a timely fashion, thus presenting a barrier to full exercise and implementation of these rights as well as creating additional difficulties in costs for the justice system. In turn, such misunderstandings led the courts to identify certain shortcomings and to issue rulings that do not correspond with the intent of existing provisions.

The amendments proposed in Bill C-13 would clearly set out the full extent of these rights and would assist in better implementing the language requirements in the Criminal Code and rectifying some of the shortcomings identified in various studies and by the courts, noticeably by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Beaulac in 1999.

These amendments also bring greater clarity to the provisions thus ensuring greater efficiency through the criminal justice process. These amendments would also provide solutions and improvements to respond to a study by the Commissioner of Official Languages entitled “The Equitable Use of English and French Before the Courts in Canada — November 1995”.

In the study the Commissioner of Official Languages identified a number of barriers to the exercise of the language rights of the accused persons. The commissioner recommended that all accused be better informed of the right to a trial in official languages of their choice. The commissioner also indicated that there appeared to be little logic in providing a trial in the language of the accused while failing to provide the accused with a version of the originating documents leading to the trial in the language of the accused as well. I am going to come back to that item in a second.

Finally, the commissioner identified a number of practical issues that arise in the context of bilingual trials which have led to contradictory approaches in court decisions. The amendments proposed here address many of these concerns. For example, the amendments to the language rights provisions would heed the advice given by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Beaulac decision by requiring the court to inform all accused persons of their right to be tried in their official language whether they are represented or not. It used to be if they were represented, they did not have to be.

The amendments also follow the court decisions requiring that the charging document be written in the language of the accused upon request. This appears to be a necessary complement to the accused exercising their language rights. The proposed amendments would standardize existing practice in that regard and would ensure that the wording of the Criminal Code more accurately reflects the state of the law.

In relation to preparing the indictment documents, an amendment was made in committee indicating that the defendant may have those documents drawn up in their mother tongue if they request it. The point I was trying to make in committee was that it should be done automatically. These indictment documents are only a couple of pages long and these situations do not occur often in Canada. We probably translate more in 60 seconds here in Ottawa, so it would have been very easy to do. In my estimation, if the trial is going to be held in French, then obviously the indictment forms should be in French without the accused even asking.

Unfortunately, that amendment was voted down in committee much to my consternation because it would have cost the provinces too much money. The amount of translation is infinitesimal.

I also would like to compliment another part of the bill and that is the part dealing with the increase in the fine for summary offences from $2,000 to $10,000. I have already briefly mentioned this. With this increase, we are giving a judge more discretion, which virtually contradicts almost every other justice initiative that we have had before us in this Parliament and which the opposition has fought strenuously against.

Judges try to come up with the best solutions. They hear all the evidence. There are different sentences and different types of treatments. The broader the judge's discretion, the better for each accused and obviously much better for society. In a court system that has in some ways failed for 1,000 years with criminals reoffending, this at least gives a broader range of remedies that might actually reduce the chance of recidivism. Obviously, that is not going to occur if we limit a judge's options for sentencing.

I was hoping to go through all the items in the bill, but I only have two minutes left, so I will go through two other items that I think are important.

At the present time possessing break and enter instruments is an indictable offence whereas break and enter is a mixed offence, either summary or indictment. These two crimes go together because an individual has the tools to break and enter and then proceeds to break and enter. It makes a lot more sense to allow a prosecutor to proceed by way of summary or indictment because then both crimes can be dealt with during the same trial.

The final point that I wanted to make concerns another excellent change that fits with the philosophy that the opposition has been trying to get across. It is with regard to the power to delay sentencing proceedings so an offender can participate in an approved provincial or territorial treatment program. This is an important step and a modernizing step. It follows the direction that we want to take. If someone reoffends, we are allowing them time to receive treatment. We are dealing with the root cause of the problem, so there will be no chance of recidivism.

The court has made a wise decision to try to deal with the problem rather than postpone it for the length of the jail term when the person is released and revictimizes. For all these reasons, I am in support of the bill and I will be voting for it enthusiastically.

Business of the House

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the House of Commons has just now voted to approve the budget implementation bill at second reading. The bill will now proceed to the Standing Committee on Finance where it will be studied by members of that committee.

I know that the Liberal Party originally said that it adamantly opposed the bill, so we welcome its change of heart yesterday with its help to defeat the NDP motion, which would have effectively killed the bill, and its kind cooperation today to make sure it passed at second reading.

As I am sure the Liberal House leader is aware, the passage of the bill is important to the stability of the Canadian economy during a time of global economic uncertainty and to reduce the immigration application backlog that is causing Canada to lose much needed talent from potential immigrants. We hope it will be dealt with quickly at committee so that we can have it back to the House for third reading, where I am sure it will once again receive the same warm greeting.

Today and tomorrow, we will continue to debate Bill C-23, which amends the Canada Marine Act; Bill C-33, which will regulate a renewable content of 5% in gasoline by 2010, and 2% in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2012; and Bill C-5, which has to do with responsibility in the event of a nuclear incident, as part of Improving the Health and Safety of Canadians Week.

Next week will be a stronger justice system week. We will start by debating, at report stage and third reading, Bill C-31, which amends the Judges Act to allow the application of additional resources to our judicial system.

We will also consider Senate amendments to Bill C-13, which is our bill to amend the Criminal Code in relation to criminal procedure, language of the accused, and other matters.

We will then continue by debating Bill S-3, our bill to reinstate modified versions of the anti-terrorism provisions--the investigative hearings and the recognizance with conditions provisions--in the Criminal Code. This important piece of legislation, which has already passed the Senate, will safeguard national security while at the same time protecting the rights and freedoms of all Canadians. I hope all members of the House will work with the government to ensure its quick and timely passage.

We will debate Bill C-26, which imposes mandatory prison sentences for producers and traffickers of illegal drugs, particularly for those who sell drugs to children.

Lastly, time permitting, we will start debating Bill C-45, which has to do with our military justice system.

With regard to the bill dealing with aboriginal human rights, we understand, sadly, that the opposition parties gutted the relevant provisions and protections in it. Therefore, I am surprised by the enthusiasm of the opposition House leader for it. Perhaps if the members are, as they were on Bill C-50, prepared to reverse their position and support the restoration of those meaningful principles, we would be happy to bring it forward again.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking the opposition House leader for performing his basic parliamentary duty by asking the Thursday question. We have missed it once or twice. I believe it is important that this government have the opportunity to inform the House of its legislative agenda for the coming week.

Today we have started to debate the budget implementation bill. It incorporates the measures that were announced in budget 2008 and adopted by this House on two different occasions.

These are prudent, focused, responsible measures, including the tax-free savings account, $350 million for the Canada student grant program, and more money for police officers, the environment, health, and infrastructure for our cities.

We will continue to debate the bill tomorrow as well as throughout next week. The government has read reports that the opposition is going to delay and obstruct the passage of the bill. I hope that does not happen.

Next week will be improving the health and safety of Canadians week. A number of measures will be announced to accomplish this goal.

I cannot provide any details on these exact measures, but I am sure hon. members will agree that these are excellent initiatives that will improve the health and safety of Canadians.

Next week we will also debate changes to the Judges Act, Bill C-31; the Senate amendments to Bill C-13, our legislation to amend the Criminal Code in relation to criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other matters; and Bill C-23, which amends the Canada Marine Act.

The government will also debate—and pass, we hope—important bills to enhance the economy and accountability. There will be Bill C-33 to regulate a renewable content of 5% in gasoline by 2010, and a 2% requirement for renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2012.

We will also debate Bill C-5, which deals with responsibility in the event of a nuclear incident, Bill C-7, which amends the Aeronautics Act, and Bill C-29, to create a standard process for dealing with loans made to political parties, candidates and associations.

I would like to indicate that next Tuesday will be an allotted day.

In terms of the question on creating a committee of the House regarding Afghanistan, I thank the member for his question. We did receive a letter from him asking about that yesterday. We appreciate the support of this House of Commons for the motion, which has allowed the Prime Minister to travel to Bucharest and obtain the commitments that have been obtained from our NATO allies and allow that mission to continue.

We do believe it is important for that committee to be formed so it can operate shortly, and we will be proceeding with that soon.

Court Challenges Program

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, in as much as the dispute between the FCFA and the government has been under consideration by Judge Martineau of the Federal Court since February 26, it would be inappropriate to make any comment whatsoever about this case.

Furthermore, the government has clearly stated its position with regard to the lawsuit in its written representations to the court.

The Government of Canada will honour all undertakings it has made within the framework of the court challenges program up until September 25, 2006 until all available avenues have been exhausted, including appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The government has a responsibility to the people of Canada to set priorities and to ensure that every dollar paid in taxes is used in the most effective way in the interests of all Canadians. Taxpayers' hard-earned dollars should be spent on programs that get the most relevant results for Canadians.

Our government is pursuing efforts that support community participation as well as individual contributions and respect for all. This debate provides me the opportunity to highlight some of the truly great initiatives of our government.

For example, through the Department of Canadian Heritage's multiculturalism program, the government supports measures that help ethnocultural communities respond to the challenges they face. We fund projects that recognize the value of our diversity and address issues facing cultural communities.

There is also the issue and challenge of foreign credential recognition. Labour market access is a crucial factor in integrating ethnocultural communities. Our government recognizes that people with foreign credentials too often encounter closed doors. We are committed to doing everything we can to help open those doors for those who face barriers.

That is why we are funding projects which take action to address labour market access issues. This will allow new Canadians the ability to begin the qualification process and to search for employment that uses their talents, skills and experience.

The new labour markets agreement committed $3 billion over six years in labour market investments that are expanding training opportunities for those not eligible under employment insurance. As well, our government has cut the right of permanent residence fee in half and more than $300 million has been budgeted for additional immigration settlement measures.

As for official language minority communities, we have allocated an additional $30 million in funding over two years in budget 2007 to promote the greater use of minority official languages in the daily lives of Canadians in official language minority communities.

I would like to highlight that the Liberal leader and all of his deputies voted against budget 2007 and, therefore, voted against this additional $30 million for official language minority communities. They should hang their heads in shame.

Our commitment to official languages was also reaffirmed in budget 2008 and we are set to announce the next phase of the action plan on official languages this spring. Once again, the very few Liberals who bothered to vote regarding budget 2008 voted against it and, therefore, voted against the follow-on phase of the action plan for official languages. They should hang their heads even lower in shame.

Our government also introduced a bill to amend the Criminal Code, Bill C-13, which increases access to the courts in either official language in criminal cases.

Our government has made a firm commitment to official language minority communities and to the promotion of English and French in Canada and we have shown this through our actions.

Our government is also investing in programs that help Canadians with disabilities develop their skills and participate fully in society.

With regard to women, our government has increased the women's program budget to $20 million this year—which is an increase of 66% and the highest level ever. As for all approved projects resulting from a second call for proposals, 47% came from groups which had never before received financing from Status of Women Canada.

Also, as mentioned in budget 2008, our government will move forward with a plan of action to improve women's equality in Canada, and more specifically by improving their economic and social conditions and their participation in democratic life.

Our government is focusing on two key issues of concern to vulnerable women: security and economic prosperity; health and the elimination of all forms of violence.

Through initiatives such as these, we are strengthening and providing Canadians with tools that will make a real difference in their lives today and in the near future. In this way, we will make our society more equitable, open and prosperous for all Canadians, regardless of language, religion, cultural background or any other defining characteristic.

We have to make choices, often very difficult choices, regarding how best to serve our fellow citizens. As our government contemplates these choices, Canadians can rest assured that our decisions are not made lightly. When it comes to spending limited taxpayer dollars, we will always choose to make a positive difference in people's lives.

Official Languages

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, our government is playing its role. It is acting as a leader alongside citizens, provinces and territories in order to strengthen our democratic institutions and to promote our collective heritage, including the two official languages of Canada.

Our government recognizes the importance of promoting both official languages and Canada's linguistic duality. Our accomplishments and our commitments in this area which were stated recently in the Speech from the Throne are proof of that. According to the most recent census data, these efforts are giving results. There are now 5.4 million bilingual Canadians. Never has there been so many Canadians reporting their ability to speak English and French.

Let us talk about the commitment of the government regarding the official languages as well as the future of the Action Plan for Official Languages. I would like to focus on the programs implemented by the Department of Canadian Heritage to support official languages and on the contribution of these programs today.

These programs pertain to minority language and second language learning, service agreements with provinces and territories, community living support as well as the development of both official languages.

I would like to go over each of the targeted programs.

Official languages education is one of the pillars of the government's official languages program. The government has ambitious goals: to improve access to education for francophone and anglophone minority youths in all the regions of Canada and to double the number of young Canadians who, at the end of their secondary school education, have sufficient knowledge of their second official language.

The Government of Canada has been providing financial assistance to the provinces and territories for over 35 years now so that they can discharge their minority-language education responsibilities and offer second-language instruction programs. This relationship is governed by a multi-year protocol negotiated between the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, and Canadian Heritage. For the period from 2005-06 to 2008-09 there is federal envelope of over a billion dollars.

Our investments, combined with those of the provinces and territories, have made it possible to introduce education programs tailored to the particular needs of minority communities. The goal of these investments is to keep the highest possible number of students in minority-language instruction systems and to offer Canadians in minority language communities the opportunity to get an education in their language that is as good as the education offered to the majority.

The department has contributed to the development and support of minority-language education programs; the promotion of French first-language education to eligible students; the recruitment, training and professional development of teachers in official-language minority communities; the enrichment of students' cultural life through artistic activities; the delivery of educational services to improve students' first-language skills; and access to post-secondary education through new technology. These investments also helped draw on new communications technologies and improve the way students' skills are evaluated.

In addition, the Department of Canadian Heritage devotes $80 million a year to second language education programs. Thanks to this funding, more than 2.4 million young Canadians can learn their second official language. Everyone agrees that bilingualism is an advantage for individual Canadians and an asset for our country. More than half of the students across the country today are learning French or English as a second language. We need these young bilingual Canadians so that our institutions can continue to provide services in both languages across the country.

In 2006, the Department of Canadian Heritage also signed a higher number of service agreements with the 13 provinces and territories. The provinces and territories are responsible for delivering a number of important public services. These agreements allow for service delivery in certain sectors of interest to official language minority communities, such as early childhood development, health, and social, legal and economic services.

The program's base budget is $13 million per year, or $65 million over five years. In 2003, the budget received a $14.5 million boost over five years. A service agreement for the anglophone minority was signed with the Government of Quebec, which had not been done in years.

Every year, $36 million is spent to help organizations that are dedicated to developing minority language communities.

For more than 30 years, the Department of Canadian Heritage has directly supported official language minority communities all over the country. Furthermore, our investments have helped thousands of anglophones from all regions of Quebec preserve their culture through the services provided by community organizations.

The agreements signed between the representatives of the 13 communities and the Department of Canadian Heritage provide the framework for the department's financial support. The current agreements cover the period ending in 2009. The current budget of the Cooperation with the Community Sector component is $36 million per year, including the money contributed since 2003.

Members of these communities are now able to pass on their culture and their language to future generations. We are also seeing that learning a second official language is becoming more popular among young people, who realize the opportunities that this may afford, in both their personal and professional lives. These initiatives are just some of the accomplishments of our government. The next strategy regarding Canada's official languages will be announced following consultations. It is important to take the time needed to develop an effective plan. That is what any good government would do and that is what we are doing.

Our government also introduced Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other amendments), which guarantees access to the courts in either official language in criminal cases. That bill was just passed.

Thanks to these initiatives, we are giving Canadians the tools they need to improve their lives in the short and medium term. We are thereby creating a more equitable, open and prosperous society for all Canadians, regardless of their language, religion, cultural origins or any other defining characteristic.

We have to make some choices—sometimes difficult choices—regarding how to best serve our fellow citizens. When our government considers these choices, Canadians can rest assured that our decisions are not taken lightly.

Tackling Violent Crime Legislation

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this motion by the government is unprecedented in the history of Canada. We can go back through almost 141 years of Confederation and we have never had a motion like this one in front of the House.

In substance, the motion says to the Senate, “We are telling you from the House of Commons if you do not pass Bill C-2 by the end of March 2008, we are going to bring down the government”. The Minister of Justice was on his feet in the House repeating in his speech this afternoon exactly the same threat.

I want to start with the height of hypocrisy that this motion represents on behalf of the government. Before I do that, I want to deal with the basic lack of logic of this motion.

What are we hearing? We heard from the Prime Minister in the fall when Bill C-2 was put before the House, and I will come back to some of the history leading up to Bill C-2, that he was going to bring the government down if this bill was not passed. It was passed in the House and now the government is doing the same thing in the Senate.

The logic escapes me because behind the threats, the bombast and the macho image the government is trying to portray on crime is a totally illogical position, which is that we need this legislation right now, that we needed it years ago. That is what we hear from the government. There is some validity to that in the case of a number of parts of Bill C-2, particularly those that the NDP supported as a political party and which the Liberal government in previous administrations would not pursue.

The Conservatives are saying, “We need it right now, we are way overdue on a number of these amendments and provisions, but we are going to go to an election”. They threatened it last fall and now they are threatening it again.

This resolution from the House has absolutely no impact on the Senate. We do not have the ability constitutionally to deal with this. It is totally illogical. If it comes to fruition, that is, if the government falls, or brings itself down is a better analysis of what is going on here, over this issue, Bill C-2 will die on the order paper. It will not get through the House of Commons or the Senate until the end of 2008.

Where is the logic behind this? Although it is a rhetorical question, the obvious answer is there is no logic. This is not about dealing reasonably, realistically and effectively with crime in this country. This is all about political posturing and nothing else on the part of the government.

Why are the Conservatives pushing it right now? The answer to that is very obvious. They lost the agenda on making crime the primary issue they want to run on in an election. The Conservatives think that is where they have their best chance of gaining support in the country. I think it is an analysis that is faulty, but that is where the Conservative Party and the Conservative government is coming from.

What has happened in the last several months is that the Conservatives' agenda around the crime issues has been completely pushed aside because we passed that bill before the House recessed at the end of last year. Any number of other issues that have been before the House and the country have taken prominence, issues that the government is very afraid of. Let me mention a few of them.

Obviously, at the top of the list right now would be the economic straits we are in, in particular in the manufacturing and forestry sectors, compelling the government, in spite of the blackmail it tried to pull on the House, to move $1 billion into those sectors and communities in order to deal with the dire economic crises that a number of those communities are facing. That pushed it off its agenda.

Obviously, the Afghanistan war, and in particular, the way Canada is handling detainees in Afghanistan, has pushed the Conservatives off their agenda in that regard. The firing of the head of the nuclear safety commission has pushed them off. Of course, there is always the Schreiber-Mulroney scandal. In the last couple of weeks, there has been the issue of the finance minister not following the rules of the Treasury Board with regard to letting contracts. There is the in and out scandal on the part of the Conservative government, the only party in the House that has been charged by Elections Canada with having in effect breached the election financing law.

There are all of those issues, none of which are favourable to the government. We are seeing, as a result of all of these issues, that the government is falling in the polls. The Conservatives believe that they can hijack the agenda in this country by trying to get back on to the crime agenda.

Let us look at what the Conservatives have done historically in the last 12 months or so. Last spring, just before we broke for the summer, three of the five bills that comprised Bill C-2 had passed this House and were in the Senate. I say without any hesitation that by the end of 2007, had the government not done what it proceeded to subsequently do, those bills would have passed the Senate. I say that on the basis of the way the Senate has handled other crime bills since the Conservative government has been in power. The bills would have passed. I assume, if the government were really serious about doing anything about crime, the bills would have received royal assent and they would have been law.

All three of the bills would have been law by January 1, 2008, if not earlier. Those three parts of Bill C-2, the mandatory minimums on serious violent gun crimes, the age of consent, and the impaired driving bill, all three of those have been through this House. Let me correct that. The impaired driving bill was the one that had not gotten through. It was at report stage. It would have had third reading. It would have passed the House in the third or fourth week of September, when we were supposed to come back. The third one was the bill on the reverse onus on bail hearings which was to keep people in custody if they were facing serious charges involving guns.

Those three bills, the age of consent, the mandatory minimums, the reverse onus, would have been law by now. I believe, quite frankly, the impaired driving bill would have been law by now, because it would have passed the Senate quite quickly in late September or early October, but for the action of the government.

I guess we all know that what the Conservatives did is they did not have enough to do, that is, they did not have their political agenda. They thought they would have fallen as a government, as they probably should have, before the fall of 2007, so they prorogued Parliament. All of the bills on the order paper died. We had to start all over again. All of these bills were off, including the ones in the Senate.

I want to be very clear on this. All of the opposition parties were prepared in the fall when we came back in October after a month's delay to reinstate all of those bills at the same stage they had been, that is, three in the Senate and one here for a quick passage because there was the consent of all of the parties.

Again, with just a little bit of luck, we would have had all of those bills through the Senate by the end of the year, that is, before the year-end break, and if not, we would have had them in the first few weeks of January or February of this year, all of them. Instead, we have had this lengthy delay caused by the Conservative government, not by the Senate.

As members well know, my party and I are not supporters of the Senate. Regularly and consistently since the existence of our political party back in the 1940s, we have been calling for the abolition of the Senate. I am not here to defend members of the other place. We saw last week the kind of delay on Bill C-13, the meddling they do all the time. It is an unelected, unrepresentative, and I think oftentimes an irresponsible body. I am not here to defend them, but by the same token, at this period of time the delay for this legislation lies squarely, entirely in the lap of the government.

If the government were really serious about fighting crime as opposed to, as Lawrence Martin said in the Globe and Mail this morning, using it for, to quote him, “cheap politics”, if the Conservatives were not doing it for that purpose, if they were really serious about the need to deal with serious violent crime in particular and some of these other issues around impaired driving and the age of consent, if they were not seeing it just as a methodology to try to get re-elected, we would have moved quite a bit further along. It is to their eternal shame that we are at the stage we are. Let us look at that stage.

It was interesting in the early and middle part of last week. The government, in the speeches its members were giving in the House, and in some of the addresses they were making to the media, began to sound almost desperate for an election. In that regard, if we have an election, we are going to be in the same situation. The bill is going to die, as all the others will that are on the order paper, and we will not see any of this legislation in place for the use of our police officers and judiciary across the country to apply and fight the various aspects of criminal activity that the bill would allow them to do.

The Conservatives are pushing that button, not because they are really serious about fighting crime. That is not their primary motivation. Their primary motivation is to use this as a political tool to try to save their seats, to try to get re-elected as a government. It is probably a faulty assumption on their part that it is going to work, but that is what their motivation is, not the best interests of the country and not the victims of crime. It is the Conservative political party that this is all about in trying to save their skins in the next election.

If we look at history, it is the height of hypocrisy for them to stand in the House and argue that they are tough on crime. It is simply not the reality when one looks at it.

The other point that I want to make is that if they were really serious about being effectively tough on crime, they would not have broken their promise with regard to the 2,500 police officers that they promised in the last election, and on which they have not delivered. In fact they misled Canadians in the last election. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, the former minister of justice, all of them across the country were trumpeting the 2,500 additional police officers they would see put in place.

What has happened? Number one, they did not tell the Canadian people that they were expecting the provinces to pick up most of the tab for those 2,500 police officers, money which the provinces do not have. To some degree, at least a number of the provinces have already moved on with regard to promises they made in elections to increase the number of police officers. They have already put some money into it and now the federal government is coming to them, johnny-come-lately, and saying, “Oh, by the way, although we promised this in the last election and we didn't tell the Canadian people we were going to do this, we want you, the provinces, to pay a big chunk, in most cases at least 50%”. That is not within the financial capabilities of most of the provinces, nor should it be their responsibilities when the promise was made without that condition by the government.

It is a full two years after the election and this broken promise is still hanging over their heads. If the Conservatives were serious about it, they would not be bringing this kind of useless motion in front of the House. They would be moving a motion in the House to see to it that money was put in place, that a budgetary item was put in place. We should have seen this last fall, we should have seen it in the budget in February and we should have seen it in the budget in the previous February.

Today we hear that the next budget is coming. Let me assure the House that there will be nothing in the budget for those 2,500 police officers. The Conservatives are going to break that promise on an ongoing basis and they are not going to fulfill their commitment to the Canadian people.

With regard to that, whenever we look at dealing with crime effectively, we have to look at it from three perspectives.

First, we have legislation, as we see with Bill C-2, that deals with specific problems under our Criminal Code and other legislation. We are working on that against the delays caused by the government because it wants to keep it as a hot button item. It does not want the legislation passed because then it will be behind us. Therefore, we have done that to a great extent. There is still more that needs to be done.

The other two legs of that three-legged stool, if I can use that analogy, is prevention. The big item there is to move programs into our local communities, funded by the federal government. Again, the provinces do not have the taxing power or the revenue capability to fulfill all this. However, we literally have to move $100 million a year to the provinces and the municipal local levels of government, to provide programming that will keep young people, in particular, out of the youth gangs and generally fight the drug culture and keep them out of those parts of our communities that advocate the use of drugs. That money needs to be spent. There is absolutely nothing beyond a very inconsequential amount that the government has done in this regard. It is minuscule. In fact, most of the time the government does not know what to do with it.

I come back to those 2,500 police officers. We know that in those areas of our cities where we have seriously violent crimes, we need to put more police officers on the street. We simply cannot deal with that in any effective ways, even if it is in an interim measure, for the next number of years. We need more police officers on the streets fighting that kind of crime, street level crime, particularly in the youth gangs where so much of the gun crime resides at the present time. The government has done nothing on that and it has done a minuscule about on the prevention side.

Therefore, if the government were really serious, we would see that. We would not see the sham that this motion represents in the House at the present time. We would see concrete action. Most of this is looking at programming that would be successful. There are all kinds of examples of it in Canada and in other communities across the globe that we can look to and adopt, but we have to fund them. The government has been refusing to do that, just as it is refusing to fund those 2,500 police officers, as it promised in the last election.

Where are we at? On a silly waste of time today debating this motion. It is going to have absolutely no effect. The government, whether it is over this, or over the budget or over Afghanistan, is looking desperately to bring itself down, to force the opposition parties to bring it down.

However, in this case it is not even asking the opposition parties in effect. It is saying that we should pass the motion and then if the Senate does not move, it will go to the Governor General and say that it does not have the confidence of the House, even if the motion passes. That is the stupid part of the motion. Even if the House passes it, and it looks like perhaps the Liberals and the Bloc appear as if they will support it, the government would still come down at the end of March, if the Senate, the other house over which we have no control, decides will not pass Bill C-2 by March 31.

It is absolutely silly. It is the height of hypocrisy. It is really the height of demagoguery as well when we look at what has gone on in the House over the last few months around Bill C-2. It is a shame. The government members should really bow their heads and apologize to the Canadian people for it.

Business of the House

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, since this is the first Thursday question of the year, I want to formally welcome everyone back to the House of Commons. Hopefully, we will be even more productive in 2008 than we were in 2007.

Judging by the first sitting day, I think we will be.

So far, the House has passed Bill C-8, on railway transportation, and Bill C-9, on the settlement of investment disputes.

Moreover, Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Judges Act, and Bill C-27, on identity theft, have been referred to committee.

This is a rather good start.

We hope to keep up that level of productivity by quickly passing our legislation to strengthen the security certificates process, which started debate at report stage today. That is of course Bill C-3. We now have a House order to assist us in facilitating that debate. We will continue to debate the bill until report stage is completed.

While all members of the House do not understand the importance of the bill, I believe that the official opposition does. I hope that we can work together in a spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship to have it passed before the date identified by the Supreme Court of Canada as the date by which it would like to see the law passed, February 23.

Following Bill C-3 tomorrow we will continue with the unfinished business from this week, namely Bill C-33, renewable fuels; Bill C-39, the grain act; Bill C-7, aeronautics; and Bill C-5, nuclear liability.

Next week will be a safe and secure Canada week.

Debates will continue until the bill is passed by this House.

After that, we will debate Bill C-25, which would strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and Bill C-26, which imposes mandatory minimum penalties for producers and traffickers of drugs, particularly for those who sell drugs to children. We also hope to discuss the Senate's amendments to Bill C-13, on criminal procedure.

Finally, in keeping with next week's theme, I would suggest that my hon. colleague opposite explain to his colleagues in the Senate the importance of quickly passing the Tackling Violent Crime Act, the bill which is overwhelmingly supported by Canadians across the country, and which was the number one priority of the government throughout the fall session of Parliament and which passed this House last fall. It has already been in the Senate longer than its entire time in the House of Commons, yet the Liberal dominated Senate has not even started committee hearings on the Tackling Violent Crime Act.

While the elected accountable members of the House rapidly passed the bill, which I would like to remind everyone was a question of confidence, unfortunately it looks like the unelected, unaccountable Liberal dominated Senate is up to its old tricks again of delaying and obstructing in every way. Let me be clear. This government will not stand and allow Liberal senators to obstruct, delay and ultimately kill the bill. The Tackling Violent Crime Act was quickly passed in the House and Canadians expect the Liberal dominated Senate to act in the same fashion and pass it quickly.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, 2007 has been a great year for Canada and a great year for the House of Commons.

Next week is the last week of the fall sitting and the last week before the new year. The sitting and the year have been extremely successful for the federal government, as we have introduced legislation in all of our priority areas and have delivered results for Canadians.

However, since we have only a few sitting days remaining this year to address important tax cuts, security issues and other priority bills still pending, Canadians are expecting us to work very hard in the coming days to produce results for them.

We want to see our priority bills passed in this House and sent to the Senate so that they may become law before Christmas. As a result, next week will be 2007, a year of results week.

We plan to build on our past achievements by debating and passing the budget implementation bill, which would lower taxes for all Canadians by reducing the GST to 5%, as well as by bringing in tax cuts for individuals and corporations.

We will debate Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Canada-United States Tax Convention Act, 1984, which must be passed by Parliament before January 1 to ensure that it is implemented and we can benefit from that.

We will also debate our railway transportation bill, Bill C-8, and our bill on the settlement of international investment disputes, Bill C-9. Both bills will help create jobs and provide economic certainty for Canadians.

Our government will continue to show Canadians that we are serious about tackling crime and strengthening the security of Canadians. Next week, we expect that our security certificates bill, Bill C-3, will be reported back from committee. The bill will then be debated at report stage and third reading. We hope the hon. members of the House understand the importance of passing this legislation so that it may be considered and passed by the Senate before the deadline imposed by the Supreme Court.

We will debate any amendments made to our Bill C-13 on criminal procedure, currently being examined by the Senate.

Speaking of the Senate, the government hopes that the tackling violent crime act will pass the Senate so Canadians can feel safer over the Christmas holidays knowing that the bill has been enacted into law.

Canadians also expect their institutions to be more accountable and democratic. We have built a record of results on this file as well, with the passage of the Federal Accountability Act and Bill C-31 to improve the integrity of the voting process. Next week we will continue with our plans in this area by debating Bill C-29, which closes a loophole in our campaign financing laws that Liberal leadership candidates used to bypass campaign contribution limits last year.

We would also like Bill C-6, on the visual identification of voters, and Bill C-18, on the verification of residence, to be sent back by committee. It is important for these bills to become law, so that they can be implemented in time for the next byelections.

Tomorrow I will also seek consent to send Bill C-30, the specific land claims bill, to committee. This bill to create certainty and allow land claims to be resolved more quickly is a welcome addition and the country will be better off the sooner its process is put in place.

This year, 2007, has been an excellent year for Canada. Our economy is booming, the country is united and there is integrity in government.

We have achieved a lot this year. Our government has delivered real results for Canadians in 2007 and will continue to do so next week and in the new year.