Debates of Oct. 2nd, 2025

Opposition Motion—Passage of Bill C-242

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite referenced that the Liberals want to protect the rights of criminals and that they want to protect the rights of citizens, but the result from their Bill C-75 is that crime is out of control and repeat offenders are on the streets in minutes.

How can the member defend the policy, when it is completely hypocritical?

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as mentioned earlier, Canadians deserve a debate on the facts. If the Conservatives want to repeal a bill that made it harder for IPV offenders to get bail, then they should do so directly and face the backlash from Canadians with regard to that issue.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about crime in their communities, and let me be clear at the outset: The concerns are valid. When Canadians see stories of violent incidents in their neighbourhoods and when they hear about repeat offenders cycling in and out of the system, it shakes their confidence. It makes families wonder whether their kids are safe walking home from school, whether seniors are safe going to the grocery store and whether their communities are as secure as they once were.

We must never brush these concerns aside or suggest to Canadians that it is all in their heads or that they should not be concerned. The truth is that violent crime is a problem. Recidivism is a problem. Canadians expect us, as legislators, to seriously and urgently respond to this problem with solutions, not slogans.

The motion before us today tries to frame the issue in very simple terms. It says crime is up 55%, repeat offenders are on the streets and the solution is to pass one bill, Bill C-242, the so-called jail not bail act. While it may be politically convenient for the Conservatives to package such a complex issue into a single slogan, Canadians know that public safety is much more complicated than that.

I would like to remind the House of what has already been accomplished. In 2023, under a Liberal government, Parliament passed significant bail reforms. These reforms specifically targeted violent repeat offenders, including those charged with serious offences involving firearms. We heard the concerns of provincial and territorial premiers and police associations, and we took action.

These reforms tightened the rules to make it more difficult for individuals charged with serious violent crimes to get bail. This was not just a slogan; it was action.

I am standing here to suggest that the work is not finished; it is far from it. In fact during the most recent election, Canadians gave the new Liberal government a fresh mandate to go further. Our platform was clear. We committed to strengthening bail again where it is failing, we committed to ensuring that prosecutors and judges have the resources they need, and we committed to making new investments in victim services and community safety programs. That is the plan Canadians voted for. That is the plan we are implementing in the current session of Parliament.

The Conservatives would like Canadians to believe that bail is the entire story, but public safety is not just about what happens at a bail hearing. Public safety is about prevention, prosecution and protection, and our government is acting on all these fronts.

Let me take a moment to talk about prosecution. One of the real challenges we face is that Crown prosecutors in courts are overburdened. Cases take too long, and dangerous offenders sometimes slip through the cracks, not because of soft laws but because of an under-resourced system. That is why our platform committed to increasing resources for Crown attorneys so they can prepare cases more effectively, so they can oppose bail where necessary and so they can ensure that trials move forward without unnecessary delay.

That is also why we are expanding resources for judges. Judges need the ability to impose strict release conditions when they believe someone poses a risk to public safety. They need the time and the capacity to make those decisions thoughtfully, and we are giving them those tools.

Let us now turn to prevention. If we want to permanently reduce crime, we cannot focus solely on punishment; we also have to focus on prevention. Our platform was clear on this. We are committed to expanding programs to help youth build better lives and steer them away from gangs and crime.

We are committed to strengthening mental health and addiction services because we know that untreated mental health and untreated addictions cause many people to reoffend. We are committed to the building safer communities fund and to indigenous justice initiatives because we know that reconciliation and equity promote safety.

The motion before us ignores prevention completely. It ignores prosecution completely. It says the solution is one bill and longer sitting hours, but Canadians know that one bill would not make their neighbourhoods safer overnight. They know it takes a comprehensive plan, one that is done hand in hand with the people at the front line of implementing the laws we vote on in here.

Conservatives call it “catch and release”. We call it listening to Canadians and delivering real solutions, not slogans. Let me be clear: The government agrees that repeat violent offenders must be dealt with firmly. We agree that Canadians deserve to feel safe in their communities, and we are acting on that commitment. In fact, legislation to strengthen bail further will be coming forward in the current session. We have been very clear that this is the responsible path forward, and we have committed to protecting Canadians.

However, we will not reduce the issue to a bumper sticker. We will not pretend that public safety can be restored by slogans, because Canadians have heard slogans before, and they voted to not be governed by slogans. They heard them during the decade the Conservatives were in power. The Conservatives had 10 years to act. They had 10 years in which they could have strengthened bail, resourced prosecutors and invested in prevention. They did not; they failed. Now suddenly, Conservatives have discovered slogans about jail, not bail, but Canadians are not looking for slogans. They are looking for solutions.

Let me remind the House what those solutions look like under a Liberal government. They look like targeted bail reform, which was passed in 2023, with more reforms coming in the current session. They look like investment in prosecutors and judges so the justice system works the way it should. They look like prevention programs for youth, addiction treatment programs and mental health supports that reduce crime before it happens. They look like stronger victim services, because safety also means standing with the people who have already been harmed. That is the Liberal plan. It is what we campaigned on, it is what Canadians voted and it is what we are delivering.

The motion before us today is not a genuine plan for public safety; it is a political tactic, a mere slogan. It is an attempt to persuade Canadians that all of the problems would solved, if only this bill were to pass.

Canadians know better than that. They know that public safety is a complex issue that requires a comprehensive approach. They know that only the Liberal government will implement a comprehensive approach like this.

We must recognize the Canadians' concerns and accept the reality that crime is a problem. However, we must not give in to the politics of fear or political slogans. We have to do the heavy lifting involved in building a fair, firm and effective justice system, something that our government is committed to achieving. We intend to act on that commitment in the current session, which is why I cannot support this motion.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member's speech, and I think she has selective amnesia, because she said that it was easier to get bail in 2014 than in 2025. The Liberals brought in bail reform, so I think it is time to scrap the Liberal bail reform and make it so that we put prisoners in jail, not let them out on bail.

Does the member know whether it was harder for criminals to get out on bail in 2024 or in 2014?

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what I will say is that we committed to that in 2023 and we have already imposed stricter bail conditions.

Right now, we are engaged in exhaustive consultations. My colleagues are welcome to share their points of view and present their opinions to us. We are conducting exhaustive consultations with the people on the front lines who implement the laws that we pass. These are not slogans; they are concrete actions.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague says she is open to suggestions relating to crime.

I would like to know whether she supports the Bloc Québécois's suggestion to create a list of criminal organizations and to make it a crime to wear or display the colours of those organizations. I am thinking about the Hells Angels in particular.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, those are discussions that we are prepared to have in the context of Bill C-2.

Today we are talking about the motion to adopt Bill C-242, which was introduced by our opposition colleagues. Crime is a problem. We know that and we acknowledge it. We want to get to work and that is why we are holding consultations with police forces, municipalities and provincial and territorial premiers. We want to ensure that we present a comprehensive plan.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned prevention in her speech. Deterrence and punishment are obviously parts of the criminal justice system, but prevention is really important. That word does not appear in the motion at all, not once.

I wonder if my colleague could touch a bit on the importance of prevention as part of the criminal justice system as well.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, prevention is a very important aspect in the fight against crime. We know that high crime rates and recidivism are linked to other problems.

We know that crime is not just a matter of being released and being given bail, and that is why we are proposing a comprehensive plan. We really need to address all the factors that contribute to a person's situation and the reasons why they commit serious offences.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Mr. Speaker, at the outset of her speech, the member mentioned that she felt the pain of those who are victimized by crime, but she failed to address that with the vast majority of victims of crime, the crime is caused by those who are out on bail. These are repeat offenders who continue to offend over and over again. At the end of her speech, she talked about how crime must be dealt with firmly. If she really believes that, she will support us in scrapping Liberal bail.

Will the member support the our efforts to scrap Liberal bail so that we can actually get tough on crime in this country?

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will again tell my colleague that the opposition MP's motion is too narrow. It completely ignores the fact that this issue requires a much broader approach.

We know that prevention is paramount, and that is why we are putting forward a plan that addresses prevention. It is important, and that is why our plan is more comprehensive.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, 1,600 is the number of crimes that happen in this country every single day. That is almost one crime per minute.

These are not statistics. They are innocent people being hit over the head with baseball bats. They are jewellery stores being smashed in and opened up by an incoming automobile, which is then used to steal the proceeds families have spent their entire lives earning. They are the people who wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of stomping feet on their living room floor as home invaders break in to steal, rob, pillage and much worse.

They are the Farooqi family, whose courageous father came running out to protect his defenceless children against home invaders and was shot in the throat. It is a three-year-old girl who was mercilessly raped by a chronic repeat offender, a scumbag who had already been convicted of raping a 12-year-old boy yet, under Liberal laws, was out on the street.

That was the case for a woman killed in Saint-Jérôme by her former partner, a man who had already been arrested 30 times and released 16 times before killing his partner.

It is the case of a beautiful young mother, Bailey McCourt, murdered by her ex, who was out on bail and had been released only three hours earlier. He was only four kilometres away from the courthouse that granted him that Liberal bail.

These are not just sensationalist stories, as Liberals like to dismiss them; these are facts. While the justice minister condescendingly dismissed these crimes, saying we are not in the Wild West, the facts would beg to differ.

Under the Liberal government, since it has taken office, violent crime is up 55%, extortion is up 330%, homicides are up 29% and sexual assaults are up 76%. There is a cause and there is an effect. We know the source of this crime. It is Liberal bail, as passed into law by Liberal Bill C-75. It requires judges to release the accused at the “earliest reasonable opportunity” on the “least onerous” restrictions. Those are the words embedded in the law. As a result, the same offenders can commit literally hundreds of offences and be released, often within hours of their latest arrest.

Police say they have often not even finished the paperwork in the arrest and the offender is back out on the street. I have had police officers tell me they have arrested the same offender three times in the same day. One police officer in the Toronto area told me that in most arrests, the criminals happily confess to the crime in the back seat of the car because they do not care about being convicted anymore. They know that Liberal laws will turn them loose, regardless of the outcome of the trial.

Liberals pulled a bait and switch in order to get elected. In the last election, they knew Canadians were fed up with Liberal bail, so they said, “Give us a fourth chance and we will reverse course.” What happened? It has now been six months since the Prime Minister was elected on the promise that he would reverse Liberal bail. Where are we? There has not been a single Liberal bill to reverse the bail system they set up. We are six months in.

We all know what needs to happen. The police have basically written the legislative repeal that is necessary for us to fix the Liberal mess, yet there is no bill. There is nothing. There is zero, zip, zilch.

Maybe it is because the Prime Minister took the unprecedentedly reckless act of appointing Justin Trudeau's most incompetent minister to the job. The justice minister was the immigration minister who literally destroyed the best system in the world, increasing the numbers by 300% over the previous norm, allowing criminals to come into our country unvetted and swamping our housing, jobs and health care with too many people too fast. He then went on to the housing portfolio, where he created the worst housing crisis in the OECD, and now he is in charge of the Criminal Code.

Compound that problem with the Minister of Public Safety, who should resign for having gone ahead with a plan to confiscate property from law-abiding firearms owners. It was a plan that he was caught on tape saying would not work. This is who we have as the keystone cops in charge of reversing the Liberal crime wave of the last decade.

Some people say we need bail reform. We have bail reform. It is called Bill C-75. What we need is to undo Liberal bail reform; hence today, we are calling for the government to scrap Liberal bail and replace it with jail, not bail. Today, we put forward a motion that would allow Parliament to adopt Bill C-242, the jail not bail act. It was put forward by the brilliant member of Parliament for Oxford, Ontario. This proposal is backed by police, crime victims and everybody who wants to stop crime.

The House will hear more from the member for Niagara South, with whom I am splitting my time on this matter.

I will note that members of the government do not need to do a thing. They just need to get out of the way. They have already broken the bail system. They brought in the chaos we are now experiencing. We are not asking them to put on a cape and come to the rescue. We are asking them to simply get out of the way. If they do one thing, it should be to sit on their hands and let the House of Commons pass this motion to quickly push through the jail not bail act. We can lock up the criminals who have been terrorizing our streets. That is all we need them to do.

In fact, some people say they are doing nothing. It would be great if they did nothing, because nothing would be a massive improvement over what they have been doing, which is doing violence to our Criminal Code. Our Criminal Code has allowed criminals to do violence to our people.

The answer is actually very simple. Pseudo-intellectuals in Liberal circles love to say the problem is much more complicated. It is not a complicated problem. The statistics tell us the extent of it. We have a very small number of criminals doing a phenomenal amount of crime. The same 40 offenders in Vancouver got arrested 6,000 times. That is 150 arrests per offender per year, and those were just the occasions they were caught. Almost all of the crime is done by a tiny group of rampant reoffenders. If we keep them in jail, they cannot reoffend. It is very simple.

We did this under the previous Conservative government. One thing happened that was unsurprising and one that was maybe counterintuitive. The first thing, unsurprisingly, is that crime went down by 25%. It plummeted. It was the biggest drop in crime in modern Canadian history. It worked.

The second part was a bit counterintuitive. What else went down? It was incarcerations. After Liberals warned that we would have to build new jails to accommodate all of the prisoners, fewer people, in fact, ended up in jail. Why? It is because the same offenders who were coming in and going out just stayed behind bars. We had already reserved them a room. It was like the Hotel California, where they checked out but never really left. We kept them in the cell and never let them out. We locked them up and threw away the key.

Something else happened. The small-time offenders or those looking to get involved in a life of crime said, “Hell, no. The penalty is too serious. I'm going to get a job and follow the law.” Deterrence works.

The facts are in. Liberal bail has brought hell to our streets. The only one keeping that hell in place is the Prime Minister. He and his government need to get out of the way so Conservatives can scrap Liberal bail, lock up the criminals and throw away the key. Let us do this not out of vengeance or spite, but out of love for law-abiding people so that our children can once again play safely in our streets, so that people can go to bed at night in peace and tranquillity, so that when they wake up in the morning, their car is still there, and so that we have a safe country where law-abiding people can live good, secure, happy, worry-free lives. That is what we are working for. Will the government get out of the way and let us get it done?

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the Leader of the Opposition is against a comprehensive plan coming forward.

It takes time to put a plan together, and we have done exactly that in the new reform legislation, which would deal with not only bail but also sentencing.

The Leader of the Opposition likes to mock and call people incompetent when they do not exactly agree with him, but does he agree that we need comprehensive reform, that we should also be dealing with sentencing, that we should also be working with provinces to make sure their courts are implementing bail appropriately and their judges are trained? Would he not admit that comprehensive reform is what we really need?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals brought in comprehensive reform over the last 10 years. Let us talk about their reforms.

Their reforms require judges to release offenders at the earliest opportunity under the least onerous conditions. That was the reform, and that is why we have chaos in our streets. They brought in another reform: house arrest for sex offenders, extortionists, gun criminals and other serious offenders. That is why so many recent convicts are able to reoffend with ease. They brought in another reform, which is to waste billions of dollars chasing down law-abiding people while turning gun criminals and gangsters out on our streets for free.

We know what the Liberal reform is. It is to unleash crime and chaos in our communities. We need to reverse the Liberal criminal justice reforms, scrap Liberal bail, lock up the criminals, throw away the key and restore safety for Canadians.

[Harb Gill, Conservative, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in January 2023, working as a police officer, I attended the funeral of Constable Greg Pierzchala of the OPP, who was killed by someone who had already been denied bail but was released anyway. The OPP commissioner at the time said this death would not have happened if the suspect had been kept in custody.

To the Leader of the Opposition, what is the price that Canadians are paying at this point for these failed Liberal policies?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Windsor West not only for his service here in the House but for his courageous service as a police officer, protecting Windsorites and all Canadians. He put his life on the line every single day, like so many police officers who leave in the morning and kiss their kids goodbye, knowing it might be the last time they see them. For Greg Pierzchala, it was the last time he saw his family, as he was gunned down by someone the Liberals had released on bail. Liberal bail took his life.

What is the price that people are paying? They are paying with their blood and with their lives. Every day another tragedy unfolds on our streets. Every day, after all these years, the Liberals have known their laws are causing this chaos. Not only were they warned beforehand by police, but they have seen it through the bloodshed on our streets.

How many more people will have to die before the government will get out of the way, scrap Liberal bail and protect our people?

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

Mr. Speaker, there were no extreme words coming from the leader of the official opposition there.

Let us look at what he is actually saying, and we wonder why he has fallen so far to the right.

Interestingly enough, in the legislation the Conservatives are proposing, they have abandoned the policy of the American-style “three strikes and you're out”. I wonder why. Can the leader of the Conservative Party indicate to his caucus colleagues, to Canadians, and make a policy statement? Has he abandoned “three strikes and you're out”? If not, why did he not include it in the legislation he is proposing?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

No, Mr. Speaker, we support “three strikes and you're out”. Criminals who commit three violent offences should go to jail. We should lock them up and throw away the key.

The member for Winnipeg North just revealed how radical and extreme he and his party have become. Here he says it is extreme to lock up criminals who have committed seven or eight offences. I will tell members what is extreme. It is when someone gets released for the 16th time, after 30 arrests, and then goes and kills his ex-spouse. These are the stories that are happening on our streets every single day. The extreme bloodshed and violence that Liberals have unleashed is what is radical. That is what we need to put an end to.

Will they get out of the way so we can scrap Liberal bail?

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to contribute to this debate and follow my leader, who has never wavered on the need for reform of the Criminal Code.

As a new MP, I am proud to stand here after several troubling weeks in my riding of Niagara South. I am proud to bring the voices of so many angry and frustrated people who have gathered to protest the vicious assault of a three-year-old toddler known to all of us now as little E.

There might be a few of us here who grew up in the 1960s. When I was much younger, I remember Canada as a much different place. Our community was more respectful. We had few, if any, issues with feeling safe on our streets, and certainly we felt safe in our homes. We had rules and we followed them. Some here remember being able to roam our neighbourhoods with our friends, knowing that when the streetlights came on, we headed home, and we all made it home safely. Before cellphones, social media and algorithms, we rode our Mustang bikes with monkey handlebars and banana seats. In my community, we had a holdover from the Second World War. We called it the nine o'clock whistle. It was a curfew whistle that we heard around town, and that was our signal to go home.

I grew up in a family of law enforcement. My grandfather was chief of police in my small town of Port Colborne. My father was in the RCMP before joining the navy in World War II and later had a long career as a lawyer, Crown attorney and police commissioner. We respected our police, our teachers, our principals, our neighbours and our shopkeepers, and we always respected our elders. I know it sounds somewhat idyllic and even a bit like an episode of Leave It to Beaver, but this was the childhood I knew and remember with fond nostalgia. Yes, I watched Leave It to Beaver in black and white.

Sadly, my nostalgic sentimentality for a safe community has evolved into fear and trepidation in navigating our streets. What went wrong? Before I look at this, I would like to update the House on the case that has captivated, mobilized and crystallized opinion about crime in my community, the case of that three-year-old little girl who was brutally and in the most reprehensible way sexually assaulted in her own home in the city of Welland. She was attacked by a convicted and recently released registered sex offender. For me and so many in my community, this can only be described as unbelievable.

This took place in a neighbourhood in which I grew up. My grandparents owned a home on this street in Welland. As a child, I never felt unsafe in this neighbourhood. I would walk with my grandfather on Sunday mornings to pick up bread down the street at Barca's Bakery, and I would often be dispatched to pick it up myself. Again, I never felt unsafe, but little E, the sweet little three-year-old, will likely never feel safe again. After more than three weeks in the hospital recovering from this unspeakable assault, little E is now back home with her family.

The House knows the story of Daniel Senecal. He was released early after being convicted of sexually assaulting a young boy. He is on the sex offender registry. He was released into my community early on parole, and within a few short weeks he reoffended, breaking into the home of this little girl. Little E did not deserve this. No little girl, no little boy, no human being should be subjected to this kind of vile act of sexual assault. This particular little girl did not deserve to spend three weeks in the hospital. Most critically, Daniel Senecal should have been in prison, not in the room of a three-year-old toddler.

Daniel Senecal has a bail hearing on October 15. Yes, this repeat convicted offender and vile excuse for a human being has a bail hearing on October 15. Now, clearly, this is his charter right and right of due process. That is not in dispute. The problem is that he is appearing for bail in the first place when he should have been in jail serving his original sentence. If that were the case, little E would have been just another happy little girl growing up without fear of being attacked by a convicted sex offender within the confines of her own home.

I started a petition in my riding, hoping to bring the voice of my community to this chamber. Little did I know how far and wide the response would be. I will present the petition after the Easter break so the government hears the voices of tens of thousands of people in Niagara.

During the recent election campaign, people told me their stories and their fears about rising crime rates, violent crimes and the feeling that their community is no longer safe. They spoke to me about the absurd catch-and-release policy of the current Liberal government. Violent crime is up 55%. Crime across the board, from extortion to car theft and home invasions, is way up. The stats are clear, but the fear is palpable and real. The current Liberal approach of forcing judges to release offenders at the earliest possible opportunity, under the least onerous conditions, is an abomination. The phrase “catch-and-release”, for me, is a fishing term but is oddly reflective of the main problem in the Criminal Code.

Police have told me horror stories about the utterly useless policy of catch-and-release. One officer recently told me he had arrested the same individual 30 times over a period of several months in Niagara. In some situations, the same individual was released on the same day on a simple promise to appear. This is the new expedited process, a promise to appear. An arrest can be made with the perpetrator sitting in the back seat of a cruiser and let go on a promise to appear. This is both laughable and sad, but it happens every single day. I have heard that in some cases, police simply drive by rather than waste time on useless paperwork. They know that the process is fatally flawed and that people are never going to do time for their crimes.

When I asked the Minister of Justice about the case of little E, he told me that legislation is on the way. That is not good enough. It is not good enough for little E, and it certainly does not deal with the issue of early release for abhorrent predators who are sent back into our communities and neighbourhoods to offend over and over again.

Here we are. We have a promise of bail reform but no action. I fully expect the minister will make good on his promise to introduce legislation, but will he actually change and reverse a decade of Liberal soft-on-crime catch-and-release and fundamentally reform our bail system? That remains to be seen.

To me, people like Daniel Senecal should never see the light of day again. This is not “three strikes and you're out”. Sexually assaulting a toddler should carry a sentence commensurate with the crime, which, in my opinion, means life. When someone steals the innocence of a toddler, they forfeit their right to ever walk the streets of any neighbourhood again, let alone to ever have contact with children.

The last time I spoke about this in the House, I had been visited by many survivors of sexual assault, often perpetrated by repeat offenders. They live in fear every single day. The list of people being released only to be convicted again is staggering. Several women sat in my office in Welland and tearfully told me their stories and about the scars they have and the fears they have, living every single day looking over their shoulder.

Many know their perpetrators are somewhere out there, and they are afraid. They hide. They do not engage in events where their faces can be seen. However, a few had garnered the courage to speak out this time, knowing they were making themselves visible and vulnerable. Many continue to move from place to place out of sheer fear. They pleaded with me to bring their stories to the floor of the House of Commons, and I am so proud to do that today.

Let me conclude by taking a moment to talk to my community about the fear and frustration that has gripped all of us in my beautiful Niagara region. This is not a partisan issue. We cannot ignore that the Liberal government created this soft-on-crime catch-and-release, mandatory parole, applying an easy path for criminal activity.

Conservatives are committed to strengthening the Criminal Code and ensuring that people like Daniel Senecal would never have another chance to offend. We are here to make sure repeat offenders actually receive a sentence equal to their crime. Frankly, if it were up to me, he would rot in jail for the rest of his life.

I want to thank the people of Niagara South who signed the petition that I will present to the House shortly. To the survivors, I thank them for their courage to talk to me about the pain, the fear and the difficult path of recovery. They give me strength here, and I am grateful for their counsel and help in bringing this message forward.

I implore the government to introduce legislation. There is no time to waste. It must bring in legislation now, not sometime in the fall but right now, so dangerous criminals like Daniel Senecal never hurt children again.

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

Mr. Speaker, let us be real here. In the last federal election campaign, the Prime Minister made it very clear that he is concerned about what is happening with crime and safety in our communities.

He made a solemn commitment to bring forward significant bail reform. The Conservatives know that. Here, they say to not politicize it. When the government, and this particular Prime Minister, brings forward that legislation, we hope the Conservatives will recognize it for what it is and, as opposed to trying to debate it endlessly, allow legislation dealing with crime and safety to get to committee stage.

Will the member commit to doing so?

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader turns himself into an apoplectic pretzel from time to time, trying to validate the delay by saying it is on its way. He references the promised Liberal campaign, saying that it is on its way and that they are going to do it, but when will they do it? He should give us a date. What does “the fall” mean? Does that mean next week? We are in the fall now.

We need the legislation now so people like little E are safe again in their homes. The Liberals need to change it and bring in the legislation. They have a lot of opportunity to do this. They should do it now. We do not need self-righteous caveats in the House in this language. There is no excuse for delay.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague gave a very impassioned speech. It is clear that the current situation inspires strong emotions in him, as it does for all of us. I thought that he gave a very good speech and I appreciated it.

In terms of the motion, I think that Parliament is important. I think that parliamentarians have a job to do in the House. When it comes to such a sensitive, significant and fundamental matter, should we not avoid moving too fast? Should we not study the details of the motion in depth?

In particular, should we not come up with something that makes sense and that will satisfy everyone for a change, rather than rush ahead with something that will be overturned later?

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, rushing into legislation is obviously never a good thing, but the epidemic of violent crime against people is not new. We have known this for many years. The government has had ample opportunity over the last five months to introduce legislation. My colleagues on this side of the House have been talking about it daily.

Conservatives are not rushing into this. We know what the problem is and how to fix it. We need perpetrators such as Daniel Senecal to stay in jail, not get out early. We need him to serve his sentence, serve a longer sentence and never again have the opportunity to assault a little girl as he did in my community.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, my heart goes out to little E and her family and friends.

I hope people are watching today, because they will see the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. A parliamentary secretary got up today and said Liberals will do anything to defend the Liberal Party of Canada; Conservatives will do anything to defend the rights of victims of crime in Canada. That is the difference between us and the Liberals.

There is an example from my small town in which a child pornographer was let out on bail the same day, and he lives two blocks from our school. Would this piece of legislation ensure that criminals and animals such as that stay behind bars where they belong?

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we believe that the time is right for our bill, Bill C-242, to be passed in the House of Commons. We are doing this because the Liberals have had ample opportunity to put legislation forward, and they have failed to do it. I do not know what they are waiting for. Do more people need to be brutally beaten and raped by repeat offenders? At what point do we say enough is enough?

The opportunity is now. Let us not wait any longer. I implore the government to bring the legislation forward now. It is already written. I do not know what the government is waiting for, but I know that children like little E need to have hope in the government. I ask it to please bring legislation forward or pass the Conservatives' bill.