Madam Speaker, it is always an absolute pleasure to rise on behalf of the exceptional residents of my riding and Canadian faith leaders, as well as Canadians coast to coast to coast, from whom we have heard, through emails, telephone calls, town halls and stakeholder meetings, a whole litany of pieces of communication, that they are extremely disappointed with the Liberals and their attempt to challenge and stifle freedom of religion and freedom of expression.
Let me make something abundantly clear. Unlike the parliamentary secretary, who wanted to frame a very false narrative to support what the Liberal government is doing with this closure debate, Conservatives will always support, unequivocally, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and cultural centres from all forms of intimidation, obstruction and violence. Canadians of every faith must be able to gather and worship without fear from terrorists, from those individuals who would wish to intimidate and, more importantly, from the Liberal government.
Today's debate is not about protecting places of worship, as the parliamentary secretary wishes to frame this. This debate is about a Liberal censorship motion designed to unequivocally shut down all forms of debate and ram through a controversial change to the Criminal Code.
It is very clear that Canada has been witness to a deeply troubling surge in anti-Semitism, heightened by the October 7, 2023, events, and targeted violence against Jewish communities from coast to coast to coast. In recent days, sadly, there have been targeted shootings at Jewish places of worship in the GTA. In at least one incident, people were inside the synagogue at the time of the shooting. Jewish Canadians are increasingly feeling that their communities are under siege.
There were a number of newspaper articles, and I am merely drawing attention to a few that I read yesterday and today. Today's headlines in the Toronto Sun are “Jews 'Under Attack'” and “Antisemitism out of control”. I am aware, as well, of a social media post by B'nai Brith, “Synagogues under attack. Enough words. Government must act now!” There was another article that I read in the Toronto Sun that talked about the typical responses from all political leaders, particularly the Liberal government, that anti-Semitism has no place in Canada. The article made it abundantly clear that Jewish Canadians and members of all religious denominations and faiths who are facing intimidation and attacks do not want hollow words from their political leaders. They want action. Jewish Canadians, in particular, have wanted action for almost two and a half years, while the Liberals sat in their seats and did not address this rising level of anti-Semitism in a fashion worthy of a federal government.
These attacks are not the result of a missing clause in the Criminal Code. They are a symptom of the rising anti-Semitism that the Liberal government has failed to confront with clarity and strength. Let me be abundantly clear again, as I wish to be on the record to correct this parliamentary record. Bill C-9, if it were law today, would not have prevented the attacks that the GTA saw over the past weekend. Canadians need real leadership against anti-Semitism, not rushed legislation designed for political headlines.
We recall the government House leader saying “put up or shut up” when we returned to start our 2026 legislative calendar. I believe that phrase perfectly captures the government's approach to Parliament. Instead of answering legitimate questions about the bill or listening to concerns raised in committee, the government has chosen to shut down debate through this motion.
This motion would force the justice committee to immediately resume clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, whereupon all remaining amendments submitted to the committee shall be deemed moved. Then the chair would put every remaining question immediately without debate. Debate in the House would also be restricted. There would be only one sitting day at report stage and one sitting day at third reading. Votes are to be forced immediately after further debate.
Now, let me have this next phrase really sink in. I know that the parliamentary secretary did not like my choice of words, but I am going to reference it again: The Liberal government is censoring debate on Bill C-9, its own censorship bill.
Clause-by-clause consideration of the bill began on November 27, 2025. However, the study of the bill began earlier, on October 9 of that same year. Since that time, the committee held eight meetings on Bill C-9. Amendments were debated. Amendments were adopted. Some amendments brought forward by Conservatives were even adopted by the committee as a whole.
It is also important to understand how the government handled that process. Three scheduled committee meetings on the bill were cancelled without explanation. At least two meetings were gavelled out early, again without explanation. The reality is that this committee was engaged in active debate on the bill on the implications of removing the religious defence. In fact, during committee hearings, Liberal ministers even raised questions about religious texts and the scope of the defence.
The current Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, when he was the chair of the committee, stated the following:
I want to dig a bit into the concept of good faith....
In Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Romans, there are passages with clear hatred.... I don't understand how the concept of good faith could be invoked if someone were literally invoking a passage from, in this case, the Bible, though there are other religious texts that say the same thing. How do we somehow constitute this as being said in good faith? Clearly, there are situations in these texts where statements are hateful. They should not be used to invoke...or be a defence.
Here is the real interesting commentary by the minister and former chair: “There should perhaps be discretion for prosecutors to press charges.”
The moment that minister uttered those words at the justice committee, we received a flood of concerns right across this country, because those words sent a chill down the spine of every religious leader in this country and those who practise their faith. This was, and still is, a direct attack by the Liberal government on freedom of expression and freedom of religion.
The Liberals had no business at all making a side, backroom deal in the middle of clause-by-clause consideration to support the Bloc amendment when the clause-by-clause consideration was progressing very well. There was every expectation that we would have come to an agreement, save and except this poisonous amendment by the Bloc Québécois, but no, the Liberal government chose this not because it was in Canada's best interests, not because it was in the best interests of religious leaders across this country, not to stop the rising levels of hatred and not to stop the attacks on the Jewish communities. It did this for purely selfish political reasons.
As I indicated, this was a 50-year-old defence, entrenched in the Criminal Code and brought in by Pierre Elliott Trudeau himself. It has been used sparingly and not successfully, but that in and of itself does not give licence to this hypocritical Liberal government to remove it for political reasons.
I will wrap it up here. l look forward to questions and will probably elaborate a little more in my responses.