Debates of Feb. 6th, 2024

Indigenous Affairs

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Haida have stewarded the lands and waters of Haida Gwaii for millennia. Today, their leaders continue the long journey toward restoring their inherent right of self-government. Last year, they secured legislation in British Columbia that officially recognized the Council of the Haida Nation as their government, at long last.

This is a significant step away from the colonial binds of the Indian Act, consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Will Canada also recognize the Council of the Haida Nation as the government of the Haida?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley for his advocacy for the Council of the Haida Nation.

For 50 years, the Haida Nation has been on a journey toward self-governance. This recognition is long overdue and rightfully owed. Later today, I will have the opportunity to meet with the president of the Haida Nation, Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, to further his important work.

We will continue working to advance shared priorities and to strengthen our nation-to-nation relationship.

The House resumed from February 5 consideration of the motion that Bill C‑57, An Act to implement the 2023 Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Ukraine, be read the third time and passed.

Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

It being 3:16 p.m., the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at third reading stage of Bill C‑57.

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #627

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I declare the motion carried.

(Bill read the third time and passed)

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I wish to inform the House that, because of the deferred recorded division, Government Orders will be extended by 12 minutes.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—Auto Theft

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to rise in this House after question period and see so many of my colleagues.

I would like to start my remarks by acknowledging the vote that just took place in the House of Commons in support of our friends and allies in Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government. I am very proud to have voted yes on the free trade agreement. We should all be proud, as members of Parliament who voted yes and supported it. We will continue to support the brave men and women fighting against the unjustified, tyrannical Russian government that invaded Ukraine. We will continue to be there, much as the European Union was there for them this week in its €54-billion aid package. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainian people in Ukraine and the over 1.5 million Ukrainian Canadians who call Canada home. God bless them all.

I take the floor to discuss the important issue of auto theft, something the Government of Canada is deeply concerned about. Our government is addressing the issue, with over $120 million in additional funding announced last week in the region of York; it is cracking down on repeat violent offenders through Bill C-48 and attacking organized crime through anti-money-laundering measures.

In addition, the government is playing a key role—

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

I ask for order, so we can actually hear what the hon. member for Vaughan—Woodbridge is saying.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, I think it applies to our side of the House on that one.

The government is playing a key role in bringing together partners and stakeholders from across Canada to consider new and meaningful solutions. No one level of government can expect to effectively address this issue on its own, nor can one agency or organization.

Later this week, on Thursday, the Minister of Public Safety will host a national summit on auto theft. He will be joined by the Minister of Justice; the Minister of Transport; the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry; and the President of the Treasury Board, along with numerous provincial counterparts, law enforcement officials and leaders of industry. They will discuss and ensure a coordinated response to this issue. We need all levels of government, including federal, provincial, regional and municipal, as well as partners in industry, auto manufacturers and policing to work together in a coordinated and focused way.

I was at York Regional Police headquarters last week with the Premier of Ontario; Chief MacSween, the police chief of York Region and the presiding president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police; the Minister of Justice; and the Minister of Public Safety to announce the investment of $121 million targeting guns, gangs and auto theft. It is very important that we continue the work and support our frontline officers, which our government has done since day one, instead of and versus the cuts the prior administration brought in across the board, whether it was to border security or directed funding.

This is exactly the approach the federal government is leading on. I am very confident that it will result in meaningful and effective action to address this pernicious activity.

The motion before us proposes we change the law. I expect that this work will comprehensively examine our existing laws, from the investigative tools that police use to the scope of the existing offences and whether they clearly denounce the many ways in which auto theft occurs, including through the use of violence and carjackings, as well as the links between auto theft and organized crime. It is important to remember that our criminal laws in this space are quite broad and far-reaching.

We can take organized crime as an example. We know that the face of auto theft today in Canada involves organized crime. In the GTA, 251 vehicles were taken, put on containers on a ship and brought to the port of Calabria, in southern Italy, with the vehicles destined for the Middle East and Africa. That only happens through transnational organized crime working to do so. We will stamp this activity out. The game is over for these folks. The easy money is done, and we are coming after them.

We see repeated stories of cars being stolen in places such as Ontario, Quebec and my city of Vaughan. Within a matter of days, they are placed on cargo containers and shipped overseas, where they are received and sold. They are then found in destinations in Africa and the Middle East.

Canada's organized crime offences operate independently of underlying criminal conduct, as well as working in tandem with it. This means, for example, that a person is charged with our criminal organization offences independently of being charged with any other underlying offence. To illustrate, a person may be charged with participating in the activities of a criminal organization for scoping out potential cars to steal or committing an indictable offence for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a criminal organization. In other words, they can be charged for stealing the car for the benefit of the criminal organization.

As I mentioned, our organized crime laws work in tandem with other criminal offences. This means that, in addition to being charged with an organized crime offence, the person can be charged with the underlying criminal conduct: the actual theft. In cases where convictions are secured for both, the Criminal Code requires that the sentences imposed be served consecutively, back to back. The Criminal Code also makes clear that a conditional sentence is not possible in cases where an auto theft is prosecuted on indictment and linked to organized crime.

It is important for all parliamentarians to recognize that we have a rich legal framework in place that already provides our police forces with strong tools. If more is to be done, I am confident that the work led by the Minister of Justice and his department will identify it.

I started my remarks by talking about the leadership the federal government is showing in this space. This is leadership in pursuing a strategy that will lead to success and meaningful action to prevent and respond to the rise in auto theft. I strongly support this approach, as it is far more likely to produce the results Canadians expect. In fact, through the first part of 2024, auto thefts in the GTA, and specifically in York Region, are down by over 20%. We are seeing a decline in auto thefts, going in the right direction. Ours is a comprehensive approach that starts with prevention and focuses on industry-specific enhancements, on operational improvements and, of course, on our legal responses.

None of these actions can work on its own to address the complex reality of auto theft; it seems to me that the focus of the motion fails to appreciate this. It is not about just throwing away the key and locking people up for years and years and determining laws to be unconstitutional; rather, it is about providing a holistic all-of-government approach working with industry and insurance to come up with the proper solutions, which they are doing. Currently, when a vehicle such as a Range Rover is purchased, insurance companies will require that a tracker be placed in the vehicle before it can be insured, which leads to a 75% reduction in auto thefts.

Leadership is about taking action and working collaboratively. Just last week, I joined the federal Minister of Public Safety, the federal Minister of Justice, the Premier of Ontario and provincial counterparts to announce a new investment of $121 million to prevent gun and gang violence, including as it relates to auto theft. This is exactly what Canadians, including the residents of York Region and of my riding, expect: governments working together to implement real solutions to address these important issues. We are already seeing a double-digit decline in auto theft in the region of York.

Conservatives are offering nothing but unserious slogans that reduce complex criminal issues to childish political games. Their so-called plan includes measures that already exist in the Criminal Code, such as a mandatory minimum penalty for repeat auto thefts. Their suggestions are not rooted in evidence or research but are classic tough-on-crime Conservative scare tactics that do not keep communities safe.

We will continue to focus on solutions while they continue to try to scare Canadians. The government will continue to work with its partners to ensure that all necessary actions can be taken to better address auto theft. I call on all parliamentarians to similarly work in the spirit of collaboration to identify real solutions for the benefit of us all. It is imperative that, as parliamentarians, our number one responsibility be to keep our communities safe and to make sure our residents feel safe in our communities, including the residents of Vaughan—Woodbridge, whom I am proud to represent.

We know that in 2022-23, criminals understood they could make a lot money by stealing fancy vehicles and shipping them overseas post-COVID. We will put a stop to that. We are putting a stop to that. How do we do that? We do it by working with the insurance companies and the auto manufacturers. I am proud to lead the Liberal auto caucus in dealing with the auto manufacturers. I invite all Canadians, especially all the people of Ontario, to visit the auto show in the coming days to see the new vehicles and the new technology there.

We are working with our provincial counterparts and the Premier of Ontario to make key announcements and key investments in our justice system. The Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Justice will be overseeing where the laws are, where we need improved actions, where to add resources to our ports and so forth.

Finally, in the existing laws, there are mandatory minimums for auto theft that have been there for years, prior to our government. Of course we need to ensure that our residents are kept safe and that they feel safe in their communities, and we have taken action. For the first part of this year so far, car thefts are down over 20% in the region of York. We will see a further decline as the years go by.

I would say to the criminals out there that we know who they are and that we are going to come to get them. Our police resources will be able to do so.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

After eight years of the Liberal government, we are continually left with the same rhetoric; it is all talk, no results. Here is the problem: Car thefts are rising, and now the government says it is going to have a summit. Then it tries to connect the dots with organized crime. With respect, I will inform my colleague that, as the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that organized crime is involved, there is an incredible hurdle to achieving that. The Liberals make it sound like it is no big deal, just like house arrest is no big deal.

There is a vehicle theft epidemic caused by the Liberals. When will they wake up and finally deal with the problem rather than having more meetings?

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, my family and that of the hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo have known each other for over six decades now in this beautiful country.

Auto theft is a very important and severe issue for Canadians, including the residents of my riding. We are undertaking action. We have invested the resources. We will host a national auto summit this Thursday. I have spoken to many of the participants. I look forward to welcoming the chief of police of York Region, Chief MacSween, who is coming up. I have had many conversations with the deputy chiefs of York Region over the last several months, not just several weeks. We were there last week with the Premier of Ontario investing funds.

As for organized crime, the learned member knows very well that Canada has tough laws on organized crime—

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

There needs to be an opportunity for other questions.

The hon. member for Drummond.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech. His ability to focus was amazing. It was incredible to hear the heckling in the House of Commons while my colleague was giving his speech. This is a Conservative motion. Perhaps the least the Conservatives could do to show a modicum of respect is listen to what other members have to say.

That being said, the Conservative motion is not completely meaningless. On the contrary, we agree with the principle, overall. However, some of the facts have been somewhat distorted.

There is something that has always bothered me a bit. It is the fact that things move around a lot at the border and at ports, in particular. There has always been an assumption that shipping goods through Canada's ports is pretty smooth and easy. It seems that the percentage of containers checked on their way in and out of ports, particularly in Montreal, is minimal.

I wonder if my colleague agrees with what the Conservatives are proposing, for example, the issue of checking containers leaving the port of Montreal. Does he think that this could be a useful tool to help combat auto theft, specifically?

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. It is a very important one. I agree with what he said about the ports of Montreal and Vancouver.

Historically, under any government administration in Canada, we have done a really good job of checking inbound cargo to Canada. We need to do a better job of checking outbound cargo. That has traditionally been the mainstay and the way the CBSA has operated. We also need to provide more resources to CBSA officers to ensure that they have the tools, while we balance the efficiency of our ports to get containers in and out. That is the economic argument.

There is also a security provision; we need to ensure that we are checking enough containers and that we maintain the checking. Also, if individuals put tags in their vehicles, we will know where those vehicles are and we could get them.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Madam Speaker, I was wondering whether my colleague across the way could put today's Conservative motion in the context of two things: first of all, the massive cuts to the Canada Border Services Agency in 2012 by the previous Harper government and, second, the December votes of the supplementary estimates, in which the Conservatives voted against important line item spending for both the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, it points to a certain level of hypocrisy. When the Conservatives were in power, they did cut over $400 to $500 million for CBSA frontline officers. Recently, on the supplementary estimates, they voted against funding for law enforcement agencies and the brave men and women who keep our communities safe. Whether it is in my hometown of Prince Rupert, where there is an RCMP detachment, or across this country, we hear again and again that the Conservatives are saying no to helping our frontline officers do their job day in and day out.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is really hard to be listening to the debate right now with the level of noise from the Conservative bench. It is like a coffee chat over there while we are trying to do some important work.

I would ask them to please listen.

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

I take notice. I called the House to order twice during the hon. member's speech. I remind members to be respectful of one another when someone is speaking.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

After eight years in power, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost, he is not worth the crime and he is not worth the cost of crime. After eight years with this Prime Minister in power, everything costs more, work no longer pays, housing costs have doubled, and crime, chaos, drugs and disorder are out of control.

I want to give an example from a CTV article. A 26-year-old man is facing a slew of charges filed by police officers in Bradford. Police say the suspect was arrested for stealing a vehicle at around 11 p.m. but was more or less automatically released on bail. That morning, he was arrested again at 4:30 a.m. for another theft. There will be a bail hearing. He will likely be released a second time to commit a third theft in less than 24 hours.

We are hearing these sorts of stories after eight years of this Prime Minister because Bill C-75 gives automatic parole to chronic auto thieves. Even the bail reform the government presented under pressure from the Conservatives did not address auto theft. As a result, these same criminals can continue to commit hundreds of crimes, even if they are caught. It is no big deal if they are found guilty, because, under Bill C-5, they can serve their sentence in their living room, meaning they can watch Netflix or play a game while they wait to go out and steal another vehicle. That is why, after eight years of this Prime Minister, auto theft is up 300% in Toronto, 100% in Ottawa and Montreal and 100% in New Brunswick.

The government is releasing recidivists who terrorize our streets and then it helps them send stolen goods around the world to fund terrorism and organized crime. The ports are wide open to criminals. Even though the Prime Minister has spent billions of dollars on bureaucracy, we see that the Port of Montreal has only five border officers to inspect more than 500,000 containers. Less than 1% of the containers are inspected. They have a scanner that barely works. It is easy to see why theft has massively increased. Even after all of these increases, we see that the number of containers being intercepted is the same as it was eight years ago. There is more theft, more illegal exports, but more containers are not being intercepted. That does not make sense.

We did exactly the opposite when we formed the government: We cut the number of car thefts in half. That is a massive reduction that makes me proud. The Prime Minister likes to point out the fact that we did that by cutting costs. It is true, we cut costs and reduced crime at the same time. That is a good thing, a win-win, as the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles would say.

Today, I continued to present our common-sense plan. First, we will bring in three years of jail for three stolen cars. Second, we will end house arrest. Third, we will bring in harsher penalties for theft tied to organized crime. Finally, we will strengthen our ports.

We will do this by hiring 75 border officers to carry out inspections at Canada's four largest ports, namely, Vancouver, Halifax, Prince Rupert and, of course, Montreal. They will be able to use new scanners that can look into the boxes to see if they contain stolen goods. Each of those 24 scanners will be able to scan one million containers a year.

How are we going to pay for that? With a common-sense approach, dollar for dollar. We are going to cut $165 million from the budget for external management consultants. We are going to get rid of consultants and put the money into boots on the ground and box scanners.

It is really very simple. We have a common-sense plan to stop auto theft by strengthening our ports and keeping thieves behind bars. That is just common sense.

After eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. After eight years, he is not worth the crime. After eight years, he is not worth the cost of crime. Crime is costly, because after eight years of the Prime Minister, we are paying $1 billion in higher insurance premiums to pay for the stolen cars. In Ontario, that adds $120 to the insurance bill of every family that has a car.

Let me tell the story that was on CTV News on December 27:

A 26-year-old man faces a slew of charges after police arrested him twice less than six hours apart for alleged crimes in Bradford and Innisfil.

Police said he was caught stealing a car at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday. They arrested and released him, and then he was arrested at 4:30 a.m. the very next morning. That was five hours after his last crime.

This is the new normal after eight years of the Prime Minister and his catch-and-release Bill C-75, which forced police to arrest the same 40 offenders 6,000 times in Vancouver and contributed to a 300% increase in auto theft in Toronto, 100% in Ottawa and Montreal, and over 100% in New Brunswick. It is crime, chaos, drugs and disorder.

If these repeat career car thieves are actually convicted, they do not have to worry about that either, because under the Prime Minister's Bill C-5, which has the full support of the NDP, they will have house arrest, meaning they can watch Netflix or play a game of Grand Theft Auto in their living room. Then they can get up whenever they say they need a few more bucks to fill their pockets, open the front door, walk out onto the street and steal another car. That car then goes to the port and is gone.

Our common-sense plan is very straightforward. We are going to get rid of house arrest for career car thieves. We are going bring in jail and not bail for people who have long rap sheets. We are going to bring in a mandatory three years' jail for three cars stolen. We are going to increase penalties if the stolen car was related to organized crime.

Then, we are going to reinforce our ports. I am going to cut $165 million that we are now giving to management consultants, because if the managers over at CBSA cannot manage, they should not be managing; they should be fired. We will fire the management consultants, and we will put that money, $135 million of it, into hiring 75 border agents who will use 24 new scanners that are able to scan a million shipping containers every year at our four biggest ports. If a stolen car is in there and there is a phony claim on the manifest, the scanner will show it. If someone calls saying, “Look out for my stolen car,” the scanner will catch it. The box can be put aside. The car can be put back in the hands of the rightful owner.

In other words, our common-sense plan is to put boots on the ground, to scan the boxes and to put the career car thieves in jail. Our common-sense plan is to stop the crime and bring home safe streets. It is the common sense of the common people, united for our common home.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, a few days ago this was not even an issue for the leader of the Conservative Party, but less than an hour ago, what we witnessed was the Conservative Party of Canada vote against speaking as one voice in favour of the Canada-Ukraine trade agreement.

I believe that the Conservative Party has done a great disservice to Ukraine and the whole idea of solidarity with Ukraine that has taken form around the world. I and so many other Canadians would like to understand the real reason the Conservative leader today voted against the Canada-Ukraine trade agreement.

How does he justify his actions today?

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

I have to remind the hon. member to be relevant to the speech the hon. Leader of the Opposition made.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Madam Speaker, he knows it is not relevant and he does not care, because he does not care about Ukraine. He cares about using Ukrainians to distract from the car-theft crisis that his boss, the Prime Minister, has caused. The Prime Minister could not care less about Ukraine or any of the other distractions he brings up. He does it because he knows he cannot run on his miserable track record of doubling the cost of housing, sending a record-smashing two million people to food banks, quadrupling the carbon tax, leading to a 300% car-theft increase in just eight years in Toronto, and giving Halifax 30 homeless encampments. This kind of chaos and misery is a record no one wants.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, the Bloc Québécois agrees with quite a few aspects of this motion. I also find it very interesting because it appears to address an issue of mutual concern today to the Liberals and the Conservatives. I like that.

The Liberals are organizing a summit on auto theft. These thefts are a scourge, especially given the figures released in recent weeks. It is appalling, and we must take action. I could not agree more.

The Conservatives have made it the topic of their opposition day today. I think it is wonderful to finally see some agreement on the issues we are called on to debate in this place.

Since the Conservatives are proposing solutions and the Liberals are organizing a summit on Thursday, I would like to ask the Leader of the Opposition whether he intends to raise these representations at the Thursday summit to gain support for them. Will he attend?