Bill C-531 (Historical)

Public Transit Operators Protection Act

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (public transit operators)

This bill was last introduced in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session, which ended in August 2015.

This bill was previously introduced in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session.

Sponsor

John Rafferty  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of June 12, 2013
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to require the court, at sentencing, to consider as an aggravating circumstance the fact that the victim of an assault is a public transit operator.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

October 7th, 2014 / 1:30 p.m.


See context

Committee Researcher

Alexandre Lavoie

The bill amends the Criminal Code to require a court to consider the fact that the victim of an assault was a public transit operator as an aggravating circumstance for the purposes of sentencing. There are currently three similar bills, C-402, C-531, and C-533, that have been reinstated in the House from the previous session, but none have been voted on yet. They're not even on the order of precedence.

Public Transit Operators Protection ActRoutine Proceedings

June 12th, 2013 / 3:50 p.m.


See context

NDP

John Rafferty NDP Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-531, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (public transit operators).

Mr. Speaker, recently in Thunder Bay we have had some violent incidents. Two transit drivers from Local 966 of the Amalgamated Transit Union have become victims of assault while carrying out their duties on our behalf.

Harassment and assault against those who have dedicated their lives to the service of the public is completely unacceptable to the people of Thunder Bay—Rainy River and indeed Canadians coast to coast.

Because of the nature of their work and their inherent inability to defend themselves against aggressive acts while carrying out their primary duties, transit drivers face a number of unusual and unpredictable threats in their workplace that most Canadians do not.

I hope this bill will act as a deterrent to such violent incidents upon transit drivers in our communities and complement what I hope will be more vigorous efforts by provincial and local governments to offer greater physical protections to transit operators while they are on the job and serving the public.

This bill has been drafted in consultation with my New Democrat colleagues from across Canada, and I would like to thank them for sharing their thoughts and support for putting this bill forward. I would also like to thank the newly independent member of Parliament for Edmonton—St. Albert, who tabled a similar bill in the last Parliament and consulted with me on the drafting of this bill, and who indeed supports this bill.

In closing, I would like to assure members of the Amalgamated Transit Union and other transit operators across Canada who devote themselves to providing a very high level of public service that New Democrats and Canadians stand with them and are committed to making their workplace as safe as possible.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)