Mr. Speaker, I want to start by saying I will be splitting my time with the member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay.
It is always a privilege to stand in the House representing the wonderful people of Abbotsford—South Langley. Today, I rise to address many serious issues affecting my community, something I wish I did not have to keep doing over and over again.
Bill C-12 fails to adequately address several key issues within our immigration system and at our borders. While the public safety minister claims that the legislation will make Canada safer, the bill ultimately falls short on delivering on those promises. In my community of Abbotsford—South Langley, a major border crossing and hot spot for illicit drugs and arms smuggling, this failure is very real with real consequences.
I have stood in this chamber numerous times to raise concerns about extortion and the rising wave of gun violence that is occurring, terrorizing our neighbourhoods and communities. We are calling for stronger border security, yet the Liberals have turned a blind eye, ignoring the urgent need to secure our borders, toughen crime laws and prioritize the safety of victims over the interests of gun smugglers, gangsters and violent criminals. My community members should not have to live in fear wondering if they will be the next victim of a drive-by shooting, or worry that their children might be hit with a stray bullet while sleeping in their bedroom or playing at the park.
Securing Canada's borders and being tough on crime means giving our citizens peace of mind that illegal firearms and harmful drugs are not flooding our streets. Why do the Liberals not understand these basic measures? The Liberals' track record says it all. They are not serious about securing our borders or keeping Canadians safe. According to Health Canada and the latest figures, there were a total of 49,000 opioid deaths reported between January 2016 and June 2024. Many were due to drug ingredients trafficked from China and Mexico.
The Washington Post reported in December 2023 that fentanyl super labs in Canada are producing mass amounts of drugs as well. The super labs that police are finding in Canada differ because they are synthesizing the drug with chemicals sourced primarily from China. In Langley, British Columbia, in my own community, police recently uncovered a super lab containing enough fentanyl and materials to kill 95 million people. Langley authorities also reported on how this super lab was capable of producing multiple kilograms of fentanyl on a weekly basis, yet this bill still lacks mandatory prison sentences for fentanyl traffickers. This is just disgraceful.
To make matters worse, with so many lives lost, the Liberals continue to push for safe consumption sites near schools. Conservatives urged the Liberals at the health committee to shut down fentanyl consumption sites located close to schools and children for their safety. However, the Liberals and the Liberal health minister refused to rule out approving even more sites near schools and day cares, despite admitting these locations have become hot spots for rampant fentanyl use.
In my riding, the Liberals are planning to slap a safe consumption site right across the street from a school. I have spoken with many parents, such as the parents from the Abbotsford Traditional School and those in the PAC that is also responsible for the school. They are genuinely concerned for their children's safety. They want to know what is happening in our communities. It is troubling. I find myself asking, alongside them, the same question, as this is truly concerning for our communities and children. Is this the Canada our children should be brought up in?
If that was not bad enough, the Liberals' own public safety minister admits he will not even do his job to keep Canada safe. He has stated that he is not responsible for hiring a thousand new CBSA agents. Why are Canadians paying him? His role is to protect Canadians by securing our borders, and right now, he is failing at that. We are not expecting him to do the job interviews himself, but we expect him to follow through, do his job and hire agents accordingly. The fact is that fewer than a hundred agents have been hired. This is simply unacceptable.
To make matters worse, gun crime under the Liberal government has risen by 116% over the past nine years, and the Toronto Police Association reports that 85% of gun crimes involve illegal firearms trafficked from the United States, yet the Liberal government will still allow some of the worst criminals to receive house arrest. How exactly is this supposed to make Canadians feel safe?
Canadian agencies have identified 350 organized crime rings inside our country, including 63 linked to international groups from China and Mexico. The Liberal government allowed multiple ISIS terrorists into Canada, including one who was caught desecrating a body abroad and who was later charged with planning attacks in Canada.
In 2022, a senior Iranian official was banned from entering Canada due to human rights abuses and terrorism, yet several investigations into Iranian agents on Canadian soil remain open. We know the government has lost 600 foreign nationals with criminal records, and over 400 of those evading the government are convicted of serious criminality right here in Canada. The government has openly admitted it has lost track of how many people are living in Canada illegally.
In my own riding, a sergeant from the Abbotsford Police Department reported that in my community there have been 60 incidents involving border jumpers on just one road alone. It is obvious that in my community there is an urgent need for border security and that it remains insecure, yet this bill fails to adequately address these concerns and serves as nothing more than Liberal empty promises.
Conservatives are focused on making sure we prioritize Canadians' safety. Conservatives forced the Liberals to retreat from Bill C-2, which threatened Canadians' freedoms and privacy, as we believe wholeheartedly that law-abiding Canadians should never be made to pay for the government's failures on borders and immigration.
We will continue to defend Canadians' privacy and demand that the Liberals become tough on crime, end their soft-on-crime sentencing for serious violent repeat offenders, put a stop to drug trafficking that kills a record number of Canadians, secure our porous borders that risk this country's very own fabric and put criminals behind bars where they belong.
It is my duty to stand up for my constituents and to hold the government accountable. I will continue to fight for meaningful action to restore the safety every Canadian deserves. The minister opposite may claim the border is secure, but it is easy to say that when the evidence and statistics my colleagues and I continue to raise are ignored.