Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise. I found it a bit much when I heard the Leader of the Opposition saying “blocking and obstructing” and attributing those two words to the government. Talk about hypocrisy.
At the end of the day, we need to reflect on why we are where we are today. The new Prime Minister was elected less than a year ago. Going through the last campaign, it was well defined that we needed and wanted to do something in regard to crime. It is an election platform issue. The Prime Minister and the government, meaning every Liberal member of Parliament, made a commitment to deal with the issue of crime. As a holistic approach, we have a serious package of legislation before us today.
When the leader of the Conservative Party tries to give false information and mislead Canadians, whether it is inside or outside this chamber, he does a disservice to all Canadians. It might be good for the Conservative Party of Canada, but it is not good for Canadians. Canadians, even Conservative-minded Canadians living in Conservative MPs' ridings, know that what the Conservatives are saying is wrong and want to see the crime package of bills passed here in the House of Commons.
It is absolutely ridiculous to try to imply that the Conservative Party is not filibustering our legislation, because that is the reality. They talk about it. They complain about it. They spread misinformation through social media, yet when it comes time to actually act in the best interests of Canadians, they filibuster.
I could talk about Bill C-2. Bill C-2 deals with lawful access amongst other things. The Conservative approach to that was that they did not want it to go anywhere. They were so stubborn in filibustering Bill C-2 that the government had to come up with a new piece of legislation, Bill C-12. Bill C-12 was a huge effort by a couple of ministers, in particular the Minister of Immigration, to deal with the types of issues that the Conservatives are talking about in their motion, yet Bill C-12, the new bill, has not passed, just take a look at the time it took for the Conservative Party to get it out at third reading.
Bill C-2, on the other hand, on lawful access, is going nowhere. The Conservative Party refuses to enable our law enforcement agencies to have lawful access. Every one of the other Five Eyes countries has it, just not Canada. The Conservative Party refuses to allow it to proceed. They talk about extortion, but if they believe in fighting extortion, then they should pass Bill C-2.