I am proud that the Canadian Parliament, in a multipartisan way, is not following our allies.
We lead. I found that, in Vladimir Kara-Murza's case, other countries followed what Canada did. We were the first to implement sanctions in the case of arbitrary detention. We were the first country to give him honorary citizenship.
Yes, our allies are doing things that can be reflected in legislation, as I suggested, when it comes to the definition of immediate family, for example. However, I think we can go beyond that. This is an opportunity for Canada to be a leader in global Magnitsky sanctions. The bill, as it stands, makes important contributions in that regard.
Some of the suggested amendments are the kinds of things that, apropos of previous questions about the rise of global hostage taking, can help ensure that Canada is a leader in that. Such amendments include adding prisoners of conscience to TNR, given that the term “prisoners of conscience” is already in the bill, and having the arbitrary detention of Canadians abroad be a triggering threshold.
The public reporting requirements are essential. Other countries are doing some good things on that. The U.S., in a bipartisan way, has pursued a lot of important legislation and executive orders in that regard. We can go beyond that and encourage the world to follow Canada's leadership, as we did in the Kara-Murza case, in a multipartisan way.