Alain Giguère

[Fighting Foreign Corruption Act, June 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that, unfortunately, at our embassies—

[Fighting Foreign Corruption Act, June 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, corruption is an evil thing that is very similar to cancer. Unfortunately, when Canadian companies are allowed to get away with things too easily, once they become corrupt, it rubs off on the lives of Canadians as well as on our institutions and our representation.

All too often, at our embassies overseas—

[Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to raise an issue that members have not said much about, and that is public health.

Tobacco is dangerous. It is carcinogenic. Unfortunately, however, with cigarette trafficking, we have witnessed the emergence of adulterated, poor-quality tobacco.

My question is for my distinguished colleague, and it is relatively simple. Can he explain to us, from a public health standpoint, the essential and urgent need to come together to create a good act?

[Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I was listening to my distinguished colleague’s speech, I noticed that we are in complete agreement with respect to our objectives. We are against crime, against the danger that tobacco use represents, and against the criminal activity surrounding tobacco smuggling.

However, I do have questions about our ability to deliver the goods. If we really want to fight crime, we must not only pass a bill, but also ensure that the legislation has teeth. Criminals have to go to prison; that is what I want.

I should point out to the member that I am from the city of Laval. Laval has big problems with organized crime and political corruption. It is a major problem. I cannot hide that. It is not pleasant to see our tax dollars pocketed by crooks and thieves—not petty thieves, but career criminals.

What I want to know, and what the people of Laval want to know, is whether, as in the case of the fight against tobacco, when we discuss this bill point by point, the Conservatives will have recommendations and accept them so that we will finally have legislation to take down the Mafia.

[Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this legislation, which affects something important in our lives, must also bring us justice, and justice here includes the appearance of justice.

Essentially—my distinguished colleague will be able to give us his comments, as well as the Minister of Justice, if he wakes up a bit—by means of this bill, we do not wish to punish just petty troublemakers and traffickers in contraband tobacco, but we also want to attack the leadership of organized crime.

In what way in particular does this bill have a weakness with regard to the destruction of major organized crime? We no longer want the leaders of the Mafia to have a feeling of impunity or to think they can do whatever they wish. We want to put an end to that.

Why does this bill have a weakness in that respect, particularly when we see police strength reduced?

[Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the government boasts about wanting to combat organized crime involved in contraband cigarettes. It may want to pass a law to punish people who are caught smuggling cigarettes, but in general, the leaders of organized crime groups do not get their hands dirty. We would have liked to know what this government, which boasts about being tough on crime, will do about the Mafia leaders who are currently praying in church for this government to be re-elected, since the government is making their lives so much easier by making cuts to the budgets of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canada's correctional services.

I would like to know how this bill will protect us from these major criminals, the people who lead organized crime groups. What would be appropriate measures and budgets to go after these people who have created a state within a state?

[Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, given that we live in a glass house, I will not be throwing stones at anyone. However, I would like the Minister of Justice to realize that we need a law to fight organized crime and contraband cigarettes. We want the law to be effective. Therein lies the problem.

All too often, this Parliament has passed laws that had good intentions, but were not used by prosecutors because they felt that the burden of proof imposed by the laws in question was too onerous and they were not more effective than the old laws. The prosecutors preferred to continue using the old provisions of the Criminal Code rather than the new ones because they got better results.

Attorneys do not like to have laws that will be deemed ultra vires by all judges because they cannot be enforced. That is a major problem.

When we want to fight organized crime, it is not enough to say that we want to fight it. We have to actually do it. Unfortunately, all too often, the Conservatives listen to no one, not even us or the experts. What is more, their laws are not used.

For example, they want to play hardball when someone is convicted of kidnapping and murder. However, the Criminal Code already provides for a life sentence without eligibility for parole for 25 years. They cannot impose a longer sentence. Nevertheless, they talk tough and put out propaganda. That has to stop.

In closing, I will say that we want a law to fight organized crime, not just an advertising flyer.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, June 12th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this bill is very interesting. This is obviously a critical issue for Canada. Just imagine the horrible impact that counterfeit drugs can have on the health of many Canadians. Imagine if thermostats caused fires. We need a law to address this problem.

The problem is that this bill is like so many others. It is not merely an act; it is an act of faith. People seem to think it was divinely inspired and therefore cannot be changed. That attitude makes it hard to debate the issue. The problem is that the minister seems to be saying that this bill is important and we have to pass it quickly.

If this bill is so important and so pressing, why on earth did they wait three months to introduce it in the House? They are introducing it at the end of June, and they expect us to vote on it right away.

Did it not occur to them to introduce it two or three months ago so that we could have had a positive, useful debate on it?

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleague from Ontario has given me the perfect opportunity to talk about fraudsters. Perhaps the member could tell us more about the following question. When someone uses $90,000 of taxpayers' money to pay back money stolen from the Senate, is that $90,000 taxable? When someone invoices $300,000 for personal expenses, that is income. Will senators also be taxed on that income? Will they declare that money on their tax returns?

We live in a glass house, and people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but notice government members' enthusiasm for talking and asking questions about a bill that will clearly not get the results that they want and that they promised to Canadians.

I could very well be reading out a muffin recipe and they would not even notice. That is how much they care about listening when we are talking about the tax and economic issues that affect our constituents.

My constituents are honest. They pay their taxes. When people do not pay, it is often because they are bankrupt, they are unable to pay or they are unemployed and so poor that they do not owe any taxes.

My question for my colleague is about the exact nature of bank transfers and how Canadian institutions are complicit but nothing ever happens to them.

Could he expand on that and tell us what an NDP government would do to prevent Canadian financial institutions from being complicit in making our country poorer?