Bill C-639 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (protection of critical infrastructures)

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to create an offence of interfering with critical infrastructures.

[Dara Lithwick]

Bill C-639 from Ms. Young is an act to amend the Criminal Code with respect to the protection of critical infrastructures. This enactment, in summary, amends the Criminal Code to create an offence of interfering with critical infrastructures.

As an aside, there are some news articles and whatnot commenting on the bill, if anybody wants to look into that.

In terms of the four criteria, the bill does not concern questions that are outside the federal jurisdiction, and it does not clearly violate the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The bill does not concern questions that are substantially the same as ones already voted on by the House in the current session of Parliament or preceding it in the order of precedence. There is another bill by Randall Garrison that also deals with critical infrastructures, but it is not in the order of precedence and has a totally different focus, so this issue is not raised at all. Finally, this bill does not concern questions that are currently on the order paper or notice paper as items of government business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

We'll go to Bill C-639.

Justice

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is scary to hear.

Conservatives introduced a new law to ban protests which has obvious constitutional problems. It defines critical infrastructure as being just about anything. In this country, people have a right to lawful protest and assembly. Legal experts are already raising concerns about the constitutionality of Bill C-639.

How many blatantly unconstitutional laws are Conservatives going to bring forward before they realize that the Constitution should be respected?

Criminal Code

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-639, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (protection of critical infrastructures).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce my private member's bill to protect Canada's critical infrastructure. Currently, the punishment for those who interfere with critical infrastructure is not appropriately defined in the Criminal Code, relative to the severity of these acts. Across Canada, interference with critical infrastructure has put communities at risk. These acts should be considered more than just petty crimes.

The legislation, which I propose today, would keep our communities safe by providing law enforcement with an additional tool to protect and secure critical infrastructure. Balanced and fair, this bill is a result of months of consultations with stakeholders across Canada.

This legislation would create a new offence under the Criminal Code to capture conduct related to interference with critical infrastructure and would provide the flexibility required to adapt to the changing nature of threats. By promoting harsher sentencing, the measures proposed would deter criminals and punish those whose crimes cause serious economic disruptions and endanger the public safety of Canadians.

I ask my colleagues in this House to support this legislation, and I look forward to their input and debate.

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