Bill C-3 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and the Canada Border Services Agency Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

This enactment amends the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act to, among other things, rename the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as the Public Complaints and Review Commission. It also amends the Canada Border Services Agency Act to, among other things, grant to that Commission powers, duties and functions in relation to the Canada Border Services Agency, including the power to conduct a review of the activities of that Agency and to investigate complaints concerning the conduct of any of that Agency’s officers or employees. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I salute my colleague and congratulate her on being elected.

When she started talking about the CBSA, I was a little surprised, because I thought she was talking about the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Clearly, that is not the case. As a Conservative member, I would never dare pass judgment on the CBC, since that could complicate things down the line.

First of all, I mentioned that we are well aware of what is happening within the CBSA and the RCMP. I wanted to pay tribute to them and review the history of the bill. I did not spend 10 minutes talking about Roxham Road. I think my colleague will agree with me on that.

The reality is that dozens if not hundreds of CBSA officers have been grappling with a problem entirely created by this government. The House has a duty to correct the situation and shed some light on the problems, especially since they have been artificially created by heavy-handed political interference.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my friend, my colleague and my neighbour in the Confederation Building for his comments.

Before entering politics, I worked for the RCMP for almost 24 years. The RCMP has an independent investigative process. When my colleagues had to file a complaint, the majority of them had confidence in this system.

Can my colleague tell us how important such a system is in terms of properly serving our fellow citizens?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to answer my colleague's question. I hold her in high regard and have a lot of affection for her. We crossed swords from time to time when I was the finance critic and she was the parliamentary secretary to the finance minister. We had a lot of fun together. I also want to acknowledge the contribution of the member for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe.

We agree on the principle of the bill. We believe that this is the right approach. That is why, when we studied Bill C-98 during the 42nd Parliament, we made rigorous and legitimate efforts that led to the passage of the bill. Of course, we raised some very relevant questions, which we will raise again. I am convinced that we will have the opportunity to examine this issue more thoroughly in committee.

We definitely agree on the principle of the bill.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I will start with thanking my colleague for the great work he does in the House, particularly on the national unity file and in speaking about the importance of projects in Alberta. I think Albertans should know about the great work being done by members of our caucus from all parts of the country, including from Quebec, in standing up for projects like Teck's Frontier project and communicating those messages in both official languages.

I would like my colleague to share a little more about the frustrations being felt in different parts of the country with the challenges at the border. These are things we hear about. There are concerns in Manitoba and Quebec especially, where some of this is happening, but all across the country as well. What policy recommendations would he suggest to the government in terms of responding to these issues?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to pay my respects to my colleague, who is always present in the House and always has something to say, and always something interesting to say too, which is quite important. Sometimes we have people on the other side who always speak but do not really speak on the good side.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

We can disagree, which is what democracy is all about. This is why we are in the House of Commons. This is why we are here and, unfortunately, why they are there, but time is moving, so watch out in the next two years.

However, on the question, yes, the crisis created by the Prime Minister's tweet was also a threat to national unity. People in Quebec, as in Manitoba, as in each and every province, would love to welcome people coming to our shores, but they also want to welcome people who will follow the rules, and those asylum refugees, the 40,000 and more who passed through Roxham Road, were the first victims of the Prime Minister's tweet—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for North Okanagan—Shuswap.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise, but unfortunately the previous member got cut short. I am sure he had more to say. He is such an eloquent speaker and it is always a pleasure, but always a challenge to follow someone like him.

It is rather fitting that this bill is up for debate this month. Some members may be aware, but I do not think most are, that February 1, 2020, was the 100th anniversary of the forming of the RCMP in Canada. It is an exemplary police force. I heard a member today say she had worked for the RCMP for a number of years before coming to this House. I know we have members on both sides who have served in police work, the RCMP and so on.

My brother-in-law entered the force back in the early 70s. He got transferred out to where we lived in North Okanagan—Shuswap. He met my sister and, even after the rough time our older brothers gave him, they decided to get married. He spent many years in the force and retired from the force from the audit department.

That audit department is internal in the force. They go in and review all the cases in the detachments. He travelled throughout western Canada and spent many years doing that, a very honourable but sometimes challenging role because he was reviewing his fellow officers' work.

I speak about the RCMP and the honourable role it has had. I am also fortunate we have a retired RCMP commissioner, the first female RCMP commissioner. She went through the first female recruiting class at Depot in Regina in 1974 and was posted to Salmon Arm in my community of North Okanagan—Shuswap. She served many years with the RCMP and eventually retired as commissioner, but chose the North Okanagan—Shuswap area as her retirement home.

Many people may not be aware, but she is now appointed as senator from B.C. to the upper chamber of the Senate. It is a great honour. We have gotten to know her, her husband and her friends over the past few years. She is a very honourable person and a great fit in our legislative system here in Canada.

There is so much honour in the roles of the people within the RCMP and CBSA. Unfortunately, we have the odd person who many not be as honourable, and that is why we need these review processes. I would not want to see the entire CBSA be tainted and for the public to think we have to review everyone in that department. That is certainly not the case.

I mentioned that February 1 was the 100th anniversary of the formation of the RCMP. In the town of Vernon, we had a couple of fellows form a small committee to do an RCMP Appreciation Day. I went home last weekend and took part in that at the Vernon Museum and Archives. It was a great representation there.

One of the greatest pieces was they also had two brand new RCMP recruits, who had arrived in the last 48 hours, take part in that ceremony as part of that recognition. Later that night, they were in their red serge and came out on the ice to help drop the puck at the Vernon Vipers hockey game. That honour and tradition was there. Senator Busson was there in her regalia and the members were there in their red serge, showing the honour that is there.

Many of us travel through airports. I do regularly, back and forth in travel from B.C. and North Okanagan—Shuswap. We have seen many instances of those CBSA workers in the airports being challenged by unruly, impatient and sometimes impaired passengers.

I was passing through Calgary around Christmas and saw an incident take place. I have to congratulate the CBSA guards and security people who were on duty at that time. They handled the situation very professionally.

We also run the risk that guards and members will be set up because of all the tools and technology out there with cellphones. Some want to act unscrupulously so they can initiate an incident and only perhaps record part of it to attack a department or person.

That is where I think this review process will be very beneficial, as long as it is open and transparent. We have heard discussion today about an annual report to the minister. We want to make sure that the report is transparent, that it is not redacted by the minister and that Parliament gets to review it in full.

A review process needs to be open, transparent and fair. It also has to find a balance between national security and an individual's right to privacy and security. We have heard concerns about access to cellphones and personal data on cellphones. Many of us keep our personal information, like passwords and so on for our accounts, on our cellphones. For border guards to have access to that basically without restraint is very troubling for some. It should not be for those who live their lives in a respectful manner, but marginal people may have a lot more issues with that.

I also want to touch on an issue that I heard just this week about outdoor tourism. People from outside of the country come to Canada for guided fishing or hunting trips, and some are being challenged at the border because of offences from many years in their past, sometimes when they were teenagers. They come to Canada as seniors, and because of impaired driving charges earlier in their lives or minor criminal offences in the U.S., they are being barred from coming into Canada.

There has been some great debate on Bill C-3 and I look forward to seeing it move to committee.

We are all heading into a constituency week, so I want to wish everyone well. I will be heading back to my riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap to the biggest winter carnival in western Canada: the Vernon Winter Carnival. It named its Queen Silver Star and her princess last night. There will be proclamations, parades and snow sculptures. Unfortunately, the hot air balloon fest will not be happening this year. There will also be parka parties and many other events in my riding over the next 10 days.

I am certainly looking forward to being back home, as I think many members are as well, as we move into a constituency week to go back to our ridings to talk to our constituents.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased that all members of the House, I believe, approve of this legislation and recognize that it is very important.

As my hon. colleague mentioned, we know that all members who work for the CBSA, almost 14,000 of them, provide a tremendous service to protect our borders and protect us as Canadians on a regular basis. We recognize that the work we are doing to put this review in place is not for the majority of them, but for the exceptions to the rule.

Could my colleague elaborate on the importance of putting together this independent review process and how he feels it would benefit his constituents and all constituents?

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Madam Speaker, this piece of legislation still has to be reviewed at committee, and there may be amendments made to refine it and make it better. I think we are all in agreement that it is ready to move to that stage, but we want to make sure every member in this House has the opportunity to debate it and put their points forward. I was certainly glad to have my opportunity today to recognize the members of the RCMP and the CBSA, who do such a commendable job in their duties every day.

The review process that will be put in place will benefit every constituency and every constituent in this country, because it will give accountability to those who may step offside. That accountability is so important, not just for our enforcement agencies but for our governments as well.

Unfortunately, the Liberal government has not been so accountable. We have seen the issues in the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's reports. The reports have come out, but there has been no retribution required, and one of the troubling pieces of this bill is that there does not seem to be a penalty process in place to deal with someone who has done wrong.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the depth of his understanding of the RCMP, the stories of the RCMP, the importance of that organization and all the great work it does in our country.

As the member knows, I am new to this place. It strikes me that this is a piece of legislation that was introduced last sitting, and I fail to understand why it has taken so long for what is a relatively straightforward piece of legislation to come back into the House.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate the member for Edmonton Centre on arriving here after the election last year. It is a great feat to be elected to this House. It is certainly an honour, and he is doing a great job of representing his constituents in Edmonton.

The fact that is has taken so long troubles me as well. We went six months without sitting in this House and there was no government legislation. A government that had been in power for four years should have had legislation ready to drop on very short notice, but it took the government six months to start doing any business.

Now we see committee work has been delayed even further, with many committees not coming back until after this upcoming constituency week, which brings us well into February. A lot of this could have been taken care of by a government that should know how to govern, but it certainly has not shown that this term.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, Bill C-3 is about accountability. One of the government's first pieces of legislation in this Parliament is to increase civilian oversight for our law enforcement agencies. This is a bill that Conservatives are generally supportive of. However, we do find some irony in the fact that the government's immediate priority is to strengthen the accountability of somebody else when the biggest problem we have is with the government's lack of accountability, its failure to be accountable for its many terrible decisions and the impact that is having on Canadians.

Let us start with the Liberals' lack of accountability today in question period, when my colleague from a neighbouring riding, the member for Lakeland, asked important questions about the Teck Frontier project. She asked what the government was going to do about this project, which is vital for our national interest. If this project were to be arbitrarily rejected by the government, it would likely create a new larger unity crisis.

She asked those questions and the parliamentary secretary refused to be accountable and explain the government's thinking. All he said was that there is a process and that there will be a decision made at some point.

Meanwhile, leaks are coming out indicating that the government is thinking of an aid package, as if Alberta had been hit by some kind of natural disaster. The disaster hitting western Canada is not a natural disaster; it is very much a disaster made by politicians here in Ottawa.

Let us end the disaster. We do not need disaster relief. We need to end the disaster by approving projects that are in our national interest, supporting the Teck Frontier project and supporting pipelines.

The government needs to be accountable for its own failures, and perhaps it should prioritize being accountable itself before bringing forward legislation to make somebody else accountable.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

It being 2:30 p.m., the House stands adjourned until Tuesday, February 18, 2020, at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Orders 28(2) and 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 2:30 p.m.)