Public Safety Committee on May 11th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

It's great to hear these sentiments. It kind of feels like we're done, except we're not. We have “miles to go before [we] sleep”. Let us go back to the business at hand.

Shall clause 49 carry?

(Clause 49 agreed to on division)

Shall clause 50 carry?

Mr. Lloyd.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Thank you.

I don't want to be the only party that doesn't get to say anything. I want to thank the officials. I know there have been a bunch of late nights. There have been many months of engagement on this. I want to thank our able committee staff for their dedication and the late nights and with regard to all the requests we make. I know it's not easy. I want to thank the interpretation staff, as well. I know that a lot of these are very highly technical terms, but I don't think we've had a single serious translation problem—well, not many—so I want to say that's a testament to the professionalism of the translation staff.

One thing I will say is that there were some things in this legislation that.... You know, I don't believe that this was the best way to get through this. This is a very complicated piece of legislation, and a lot of these things are going to impact people in very serious ways. We're talking about changes to the Criminal Code. We're talking about changes to the Firearms Act that carry criminal penalties. To speed through these things in five minutes.... It's certainly efficient, as the government wants it. However, we're trying to build legislation for our country, and it's serious legislation that has serious impacts on folks. Despite opposing the overall agenda of the government on this front, as Conservatives I think we came here with a genuine desire to try to mitigate the damage to law-abiding firearms owners in this country. I don't think we were successful overall, but this will continue. I look forward to future debates, because I think there's a lot of improvement that needs to be made.

With that, I want to thank our colleagues from all parties. It's been a lot of long nights together, and there have been a lot of strong disagreements on things. A lot of people email our offices—I'm sure we all get them—and say, “Why can't you guys all get along better?” I say to them that this is what parliamentary democracy is about. It's not about everyone agreeing about everything. It's about everyone standing up for what they believe in, pushing up against each other in debate. The country gets not the perfect thing—and, certainly, Conservatives think that this legislation is far from perfect—but something that somewhat resembles the will of the nation.

I appreciate the exercise that we've done here today. Unfortunately, it was time-allocated, so we weren't able to take the time needed to improve this legislation in the way that we would have wanted. However, I appreciate the opportunity to be here, and it's a real privilege to be a member of Parliament with this team of extraordinary people from across the country.

With that, I will close my remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for all your hard work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you. You've magically brought us to the witching hour. It is 11:59.

(Clause 50 agreed to on division)

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We've reached the point where there's no further debate. Given that there are no amendments for clauses 51 through 69, may we have unanimous consent to carry them all?

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Chair, we want to go through each clause.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Shall clause 51 carry?

(Clause 51 agreed to on division)

For clause 52, I thank the members from the CNSC for joining us. Theoretically, at this point, we have the members from the CBSA here as well. We can't ask them questions, of course, but I would certainly like to....

From the Canada Border Services Agency, we have Mr. Jeff Robertson, who has valiantly stuck around for these many hours and days, even. Thank you for coming. Mr. Robertson is the manager of the inadmissibility policy unit in the strategic policy branch. Unfortunately, there is no more debate, but thank you.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

You can have a quick point of order.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

I just note that we have a witness before the committee who, by nature of the motion that was passed in the House, is not allowed to give testimony.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you for your point of order.

(Clauses 52 to 54 inclusive agreed to on division)

(Clauses 55 to 57 inclusive agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I have a point of order. Do the officials still need to stay, since we cannot ask them questions?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I think that's a valid point.

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

We're just keeping track.

Are we allowed to stay?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

You are absolutely allowed to stay.

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We welcome your company. We appreciate your company, but I think it is the sense of the committee that, if you wish to leave, you are free to do so. Thank you.

Again, we really appreciate all the time you've spent. We're going to need to have a reunion one of these days, but not at midnight.

We are on clause 58.

(Clauses 58 to 60 inclusive agreed to on division)

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

For clause 60, I want it known that I said, “of course”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That will be in the minutes, I'm sure.

We'll continue, starting with clause 61.

(Clauses 61 to 64 inclusive agreed to on division)

(Clauses 65 and 66 agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

(Clauses 67 and 68 agreed to on division)

(Clause 69 agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

(On clause 70)

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That brings us to clause 70. We have four amendments. On CPC-25—

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

I'd like a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

It's a recorded vote on CPC-25.

(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Next is CPC-26.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

I'd like a recorded vote.

(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Next we go to CPC-27.

Is that on division...?

[An hon. member]

Hold up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I think we need a recorded vote on this.

(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We're now on CPC-28.