House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 42% of the vote.
Justice May 28th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, in the last three months, we have held an auto theft summit. We have invested $170 million in addressing this issue through investments in law enforcement, through investments in CBSA scanners, through investing in information sharing through Interpol. We are working diligently to break up criminal networks.
We are not pursuing failed policies like the Conservatives' approach year after year under Stephen Harper, most of which were struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Justice May 28th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, I will start by saluting the impressive work of the Peel police force for cracking an organized criminal ring that is taking people's cars.
The second thing I want to underscore for the member and her entire caucus is that they cannot selectively listen to law enforcement. What law enforcement tells me and the Minister of Public Safety all the time is that the days of teenage joyrides are over. This is an international organized criminal effort. We need to deal with that and follow the money path.
How are we doing that? We are doing it with anti-money laundering offences and beefing up our strength on money laundering through the fall economic statement and the budget, two things Conservatives are voting against.
Official Languages May 24th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, I would just like to point out that the court challenges program has been there from the beginning to protect official language minority communities. This program is designed to protect French outside Quebec and protect English in Quebec, for example.
We are proud of our dedication to protecting both official languages. We are proud to respect the reforms that have been made to the Official Languages Act, and to respect the protections that are already set out in section 16 of the Constitution.
Official Languages May 24th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, the court challenges program was created by the Liberal Party of Canada. It was eliminated by the Conservative government and later reinstated by the Liberal Party during the current mandate.
As for protecting the French language and official bilingualism across Canada, we are there for official language minority communities, just as we are there to protect both official languages, which are enshrined in the Constitution.
Public Safety May 24th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, the rise in auto theft in our country is not caused by one-off incidents of teenagers taking a joyride; it is perpetrated by networks of organized criminals. That is why we are cracking down on organized crime. These crime rings prey on teenagers to do their dirty work, so we are adding an amendment to the Criminal Code to add a new aggravating factor to make tougher sentences for those who use young persons in the commission of an offence. We are also raising the maximum penalty for those who use violence during a daylight carjacking.
We are going to stop auto theft. We are going to stop organized criminals who are taking advantage of our kids. Enough is enough.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Mr. Speaker, I would say a number of things. In terms of the tragic death of that woman, that is an absolute tragedy that I feel extreme sympathy for. My heart goes out to her family.
In terms of a response, we are working on a number of fronts. We are working on reimagining how we do policing and what policing is as an essential service. That is something that is governed by the Minister of Public Safety, and he is working on that.
Second, we are addressing systemic racism. We are calling it out by name. We are addressing systemic racism in policing, including in the RCMP.
Third, what I am doing specifically is working on an indigenous justice strategy that is targeted at curing the vast overrepresentation of indigenous people in both our court system and justice system, and in our correction system. That will help with addressing some of the circumstances that led to that fatality, which should have been avoided and needs to be avoided going forward.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Mr. Speaker, there are aspects that touch upon gaming in the UN declaration act action plan, and we stand by that action plan, which was co-developed with many different indigenous rights holders around the country.
At FPT meetings, we have discussed issues that relate to gaming and the fact that we need federal-provincial-territorial co-operation to address this pressing issue. It will remain on the agenda and in the action plan.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Mr. Speaker, the passage of the UNDRIP through Parliament was historic. It created an annual reporting requirement and changed fundamentally the way we do business as a government.
The important involvement of indigenous people at the development stages, including through co-development, of legislation that has an impact or has a potential to impact on their rights is significant, and I have seen that in the work I am doing. I have seen that across 25 other departments that are touched upon by the UN declaration act action plan, which has 181 different measures.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Mr. Speaker, I would reiterate, for the edification of the member, that, through Bill C-5, we adopted many aspects of the original private member's bill that was suggested by the member for Beaches—East York, such as aspects and approaches toward the issue of simple possession. That included diversion and alternative measures.
Those are concrete examples of how we are taking a different approach, which is more focused on harm reduction for the issue of narcotics and simple possession.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Mr. Speaker, I would reiterate that I share the hon. member's concerns about addressing the opioid crisis. That is why we have adopted a harm reduction approach. We do not believe in criminalizing health-related behaviour.
That being said, I do not control whether the Government of Saskatchewan or the Government of Alberta applies to Health Canada to seek an exemption under the Narcotics Control Act so they can operate a safe consumption site. That is not within my purview as Minister of Justice or within the federal government's purview.
What we can do is provide the tools to ensure that the approach is being taken, so we are having a safer supply, reducing the amount of fentanyl that is being used and saving people's lives. That is what we have tried to do since 2015 and what we will continue to try to do. Again, I would urge him to express these frustrations directly to the provincial governments with which he is concerned.