Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to rise today to speak about an issue that Canadians are no longer willing to tolerate: the surge of extortion that is targeting our communities, our businesses and our families.
Crime has evolved, and frankly, our laws did not keep pace quickly enough. That is a reality, but unlike the members opposite, we are not interested in pointing fingers and walking away. We are taking responsibility and fixing the issue. This is why we introduced Bill C-14, the bail and sentencing reform act, and Bill C-16, the protecting victims act, two of the most consequential proposed reforms to the Criminal Code in a generation.
Bill C-14 would give tools to provincial judges and police officers to put repeat and violent extortionists in jail, where they belong. It would mandate strict bail conditions for people accused of extortion and organized crime, including weapons prohibitions and geographic restrictions. It would introduce a reverse onus for extortion involving violence, shifting the burden so that the people accused must justify their release instead of the Crown having to justify their detention, and it would ensure that sentences for extortion and arson are served consecutively, because escalating violence deserves escalating consequences, period.
Bill C-16 would go even further by addressing how criminal networks operate. It would create a new stand-alone offence to target people who recruit young people into committing crimes like extortion. These criminals are not just breaking the law; they are grooming young people to do their work for them. We are shutting that pipeline down before more lives are pulled into it.
Here is something Canadians must know. These bills were introduced last fall, last year. Canadians expected urgency, but what they got from the Conservatives is delay, obstruction and political gamesmanship, all while they stood in the House pretending to be tough on crime.
Now the same pattern is repeating itself in the Senate, where a Conservative senator has recently claimed there is no timeline to pass Bill C-14 and bring it back to the House for final stage. This is despite overwhelming support from all 10 premiers, from police chiefs across the country, from frontline officers I have talked to and from business leaders across this country who are dealing with extortion in real time.
Let us be clear: The only thing standing between Canadians and stronger protections right now is Conservative delay. If the member opposite truly cared about victims of extortion, she would use her rhetoric and her actual influence inside her party to make sure these bills get passed. Tonight when she goes home, we hope she will pick up the phone and tell her Conservative colleagues in the Senate to stop blocking these bills, which she has been doing, and urge them to pass Bill C-14 both at committee and at third reading, before this Friday, or she will continue to say one thing here while her colleagues ensure that nothing actually gets done.
The legislation is here. The solution is here. The only question is whether the members opposite will finally stop their obstruction and start standing with Canadians and the victims of extortion.