Debates of June 4th, 2024

Bill C‑20—Time Allocation Motion

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

Madam Speaker, I look at the legislation as enabling additional public confidence in an institution that plays such an important role in many different ways. Our Canada border control officers, in general, do an outstanding job, and there has been a great deal of work, through the minister and the minister's staff, to bring it to the point where it is today. Unfortunately, with the legislative agenda, what we find is that the Conservative Party of Canada, better known as the “Reformers” inside the House, really do not want to have legislation that is good for Canadians ultimately passed, and that is really quite unfortunate.

I am wondering if the minister can provide his thoughts in regards to how this legislation, once passed, would really add value in terms of public confidence in the system.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank our colleague, the parliamentary secretary, for highlighting what surprises colleagues on our side of the House, in terms of the Conservatives' reticence to adopt legislation that would provide, for the first time, independent civilian oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency and that would strengthen the previous complaints commission process for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Our national security institutions do great work to protect Canadians, to serve Canadians and to ensure, in the case of the Canada Border Services Agency, that duties are collected appropriately by competent authorities. It is important for the Canadian economy, and it is important for the treasury of the Government of Canada. That work is very important, and it is done well.

There is also a national security, a border security, element. All of these agencies benefit from independent, strengthened oversight to deal with complaints, to deal with, as my colleague, the New Democratic Party House leader, identified in the case of some union circumstances or employees.

All of this should be important for members, in terms of providing the support for these agencies, and I hope Parliament will adopt this bill, Bill C-20.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, the NDP fought hard to improve this bill, Bill C-20, to increase transparency and accountability and to ensure that there was more investigative power. There are many improvements to this bill. However, as we know, it came out of committee, and then promptly ran into the stone wall, which is the Conservative Party of Canada, that blocked dental care, pharmacare, the affordable housing provisions that the NDP has pushed the government to put into place and the improvements to the Competition Act. Of course, Conservatives do not accept the blame for having delayed this bill now for months because they blocked everything else before it.

The disingenuous idea that somehow this bill, Bill C-20, can just make its way through the House of Commons when the Conservatives have blocked every single piece of legislation that helps the country and that helps their constituents, I think shows the extent to which Conservatives are willing to mislead the public. The reality is that Conservatives have been unwilling to pass this bill, despite all the benefits for Canada and for those who work for CBSA and the RCMP, which would ensure more accountability and transparency of those institutions and would ensure a way for the public to make complaints.

With all those benefits in Bill C-20, why have Conservatives been blocking it for so long?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby again identifies what, for us, was a very constructive and positive effort from our colleagues at committee to improve the legislation. As I said, the New Democratic Party was a very steady and constructive voice in bringing thoughtful amendments that, from our perspective, strengthened the legislation.

The member identified, for example, the importance of the public having a process by which complaints could be adjudicated by competent authorities, the appointments process of members of the commission reflecting the diversity of our country and the appropriate role for this complaints review commission, with respect to the internal matters involving employees. These were all things the committee strengthened or improved in the legislative process.

I too share my colleague's view of the disingenuous way in which the Conservatives now pretend that there is no urgency to pass this bill, Bill C-20, after they took every conceivable step to make sure that this legislation would not get to a vote. The good news is that we may be getting to that point this evening.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, I have to laugh at the minister's comments about being disingenuous. He talked about strengthening oversight with this bill, Bill C-20, the importance of the appointments process and the appropriate role of the complaints process.

I wonder if the minister made the exact same arguments to the Prime Minister and the rest of his cabinet before he voted to prorogue government in order to cover up for the WE scandal.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, members, I hope, will agree that there is some irony in a member of the Conservative Party criticizing prorogation when its former leader, former Prime Minister Harper, prorogued Parliament to avoid a confidence vote that would have likely replaced his government. He had to have a one-hour wrangle with the Governor General to ask for that unconstitutional and unprecedented request. I thought the Conservatives were addicted to prorogation, particularly if it involves a confidence vote that might avoid their government being accountable to this very House.

I certainly would not impute some impure motive on our colleague from Edmonton West, but I think he should be careful when he sees prorogation as essential to the survival of his former Conservative government.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is naturally in favour of this bill. I hope this will give citizens effective recourse. I heard about a lot of cases of abuse of power against people who wanted to be served in French, including at the Montreal airport. This seems to be done with impunity. There was even a university professor who was jailed for being a bit too insistent on being served in French.

I am not sure what my—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. minister.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank our colleague from La Pointe-de-l'Île. What a beautiful name for a riding. I am a little envious of the name of his constituency.

Our colleague raises an issue that should be of concern to everyone. I, too, am concerned. I fully share our colleague's concerns about the importance of having border services officers who can serve people in both official languages, whether at the Montreal airport or anywhere else in Canada.

In every conversation I have, I obviously encourage other CBSA senior officials to ensure that the kind of situation described by my colleague does not happen. I would also like to thank the Bloc Québécois members for their very constructive support in moving this bill forward. I would be happy to make sure we resolve this kind of issue correctly.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, it is very clear, certainly from the news, that there is a need for independent oversight. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called for systemic change, particularly relating to calls 9.1 to 9.11.

It is not shocking to me. We know there is systemic racism in policing. We know it is not effective for police to police themselves. To the minister, why do you think the Conservatives are so against addressing systemic racism in both the CBSA and the RCMP, which has been highly reported, including at the United Nations?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I want to remind the hon. member that she is to address questions and comments through the Chair and not directly to the minister.

The hon. minister.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, the member identifies something that we have acknowledged: the presence of systemic racism in policing institutions and other governmental institutions. It is a concern that we share with her.

Again, one of the constructive elements of the work done by colleagues at the committee, including the House leader of the New Democratic Party, was the ability to collect race-based data and to look at the issues around overrepresentation of racialized people and indigenous people in the criminal justice system. Sadly, in many cases, the entry point for many of these people in the criminal justice system is interactions with the police or conceivably the Canada Border Services Agency. That is why it is important that the appropriate people be appointed to this oversight group to ensure that exactly the kind of concern that our colleague from Winnipeg Centre raises is addressed at the highest levels and with the utmost vigour.

[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.

I just want to reiterate the point made by my colleague from Edmonton. He asked the minister whether he advised the Prime Minister in relation to this bill when prorogation occurred in the 43rd Parliament. The minister danced, weaved and dodged, and he would not answer the question.

I will ask it again. Prior to the prorogation in the 43rd Parliament, did he advise the Prime Minister in relation to this bill, yes or no?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, dancing and weaving are not physical activities that I would pretend to be very effective in doing.

What I thought I did, which I judged by the smiles of a number of colleagues in the House, including across the aisle from where I stand now, was point out a certain irony. “Hypocrisy” may be an unparliamentary word, so I would not propose to use that word, but there is a certain irony in Conservatives finding anything other than joy in prorogation. I would have thought they were addicted to prorogation. They love prorogation. They now pretend to have manufactured outrage around prorogation with legislation in a previous Parliament. They prorogued Parliament not even to call an election but to avoid a non-confidence vote. I am having trouble understanding the sincerity of that question.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, as members know, we introduced and passed Bill C-290 to protect whistle-blowers. Neither the CBSA nor the RCMP were included in that bill.

Can the minister assure me that Bill C-20 will change things so that my constituency office stops receiving emails from officers asking for help with unjustified layoffs, threats to suspend their pensions, and so on? Will this kind of thing finally end with the passage of Bill C‑20?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, our colleague from Beauport—Limoilou has raised another important issue. I completely share her concern regarding complaints that could land in her constituency office from people who did not really have appropriate recourse or a robust independent voice for the review and handling of those complaints.

I hope that this bill and the independent commission that it creates and that will apply for the first time both to the CBSA and to our friends in the RCMP will provide exactly the recourse that our colleague from Beauport—Limoilou has identified as missing in the past.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, I find it a bit odd to hear my Conservative colleagues talk about transparency. That is not really a concept that we have seen them apply in the past.

I would like the minister to tell us about important measures. This bill talks about transparency and accountability. I think it is important to hear what the minister, who is very eloquent and obviously very familiar with the sector, has to say about this. Canadians who are watching at home this evening will be interested to know what measures are set out in this bill to promote transparency and accountability.

I am sure that the minister can tell Canadians this evening why this bill is good for the future of our country.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, our colleague, the Minister of Innovation, rightly raised an important issue. In his parliamentary or ministerial work, my colleague is someone who is very focused on the type of critical question he just asked.

I think that the very fact that the commission will regularly release reports will reassure Canadians as to the importance of this aspect of civilian review, which will apply to the CBSA for the first time and which will be strengthened in the case of the RCMP.

I completely agree with the Minister of Innovation as to the importance of reassuring Canadians that we have put in place appropriate measures to guarantee not only their safety but also the accountability of our national security agencies.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, when I asked the minister a question about systemic racism, I heard Conservatives heckling. I bring this up because we know there is an overrepresentation of excessive force used against Black people, indigenous people and people of colour. We have a serious issue of systemic racism in this country, which informed part of the TRC final report and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Let us not forget that the roots of the RCMP are in apprehending children and shipping them off to residential schools. That is the history upon which the RCMP was founded. Of course, some Conservative members have been quoted as residential school denialists, and it is concerning.

I am wondering whether the minister can reassure me that we will stop allowing the Conservatives to stall and will make sure we address the serious systemic racism in this country.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Speaker, our colleague from Winnipeg Centre raises a very troubling and important issue. We acknowledge the presence of systemic racism in many aspects of the criminal justice system. The overrepresentation of indigenous persons, Black people and racialized people is a source of concern for all of us. It should concern all Canadians. It certainly is a concern that I share.

As expressed by our colleague from Winnipeg Centre, there is no doubt that having more reliable data, which is one of the important things this legislation would do, would help us come up with the policies appropriate to reduce this very concerning overrepresentation. I would obviously be happy to work with our colleague from Winnipeg Centre, who has been a very powerful voice on these issues, to ensure that we have the right series of measures in the criminal justice system at all times and that this important circumstance is addressed and addressed quickly. We have made some progress, but there is still a lot more work to do, and we think this legislation is one of many steps necessary to address the issues that she so correctly identified.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings at this time and put forthwith the question necessary to dispose of the motion now before the House.

The question is as follows. May I dispense?

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

[Chair read text of motion to House]

If a member participating in person wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

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

Madam Speaker, we are seeking a recorded vote, please.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Call in the members.