Bill Blair

[Public Safety, October 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I spent 39 years fighting crime in the city of Toronto. One of the things I learned in that 39 years is that cops count.

Today there are 700 fewer police officers in the city of Toronto than when I was the police chief. Those are the same cops, by the way, who fought guns and gangs, gave evidence at bail hearings and kept our neighbourhoods safe. Just like the Harper government that cut 1,000 RCMP positions, Conservative mayors and premiers have frozen police hiring. This is the price we are all paying for reckless Conservative cuts. If the Conservatives are looking for causation of the rising crime, they should look in the mirror.

[Firearms, October 25th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we promised Canadians that we would strengthen gun control and the Conservatives have promised the gun lobby that they will weaken it.

If we want to reduce gun crime in this country, we have to make it harder to commit gun crime and make it more likely to get caught. We make it harder to commit gun crime by increasing and strengthening gun control in this country. We make sure that criminals will get caught by not cutting thousands of police officer positions from our cities and from our provinces right across this country. We have seen the price that Canadians have paid for Conservative cuts to the essential services that we all rely upon. When they want to know what is really happening, the unions will know, as it was the Conservatives who cut their memberships.

[Public Safety, October 25th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I spent 39 years of my life fighting gun violence in the city of Toronto, and one of the things I learned is that cops count. However, today, there are 700 fewer police officers in Toronto than when I was the chief. Those are the same police officers who fought guns and gangs, who gave evidence at bail hearings and who kept neighbourhoods safe.

Just like Stephen Harper, who cut a thousand RCMP jobs, successive Conservative mayors and premiers have frozen police budgets and police hiring. That is the price that we all pay for reckless Conservative cuts. If the Conservatives are looking for causation of the increase in violence, they should look in the mirror.

[Government Accountability, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives might have been more comfortable if I had begun with a bad poem.

The Prime Minister undertakes very important work on behalf of Canada at home and abroad. For example, this week in New York, not only is he speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, but he is also leading and co-hosting the Summit of the Future, talking about key global challenges on sustainable development, international peace and security, technical innovation, digital coordination, the decarbonization of clean energy and human rights.

I do appreciate that nobody over there appears to care about any of those things, but they are important to Canadians.

[Government Accountability, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister of Canada undertakes very important work representing Canada at home and abroad. For example, this week in New York, he spoke at the—

[Military Justice System Modernization Act, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, given that all members in the House have spoken in favour of the legislation before us, would there be unanimous consent to allow Bill C-66 to be sent to committee?

[Military Justice System Modernization Act, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member opposite, in his speech, acknowledging the importance of the bill and his indication that he intends to support it. We wholeheartedly agree. We think this bill is important. Let us get it to committee. Let us get on with the work that needs to be done.

I heard a long litigation of all his previous grievances with respect to the government, but he indicated his personal support for members of the military. How would he reconcile that with the fact that, when a vote came before the House to provide money to give members of the Canadian Armed Forces a pay raise, he voted against it? Deeds speak, and your words are betrayed by your actions. How would you reconcile that?

[Military Justice System Modernization Act, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I would just like to inquire. There were a couple of important votes here in the House just recently, in the last six or seven months, where we were voting on money for the Canadian Armed Forces. We were voting on money, for example, to support its Operation Unifier, the work it was doing in support of Ukraine. We voted on money for its raise.

The member opposite, who just proclaimed her support for the Canadian Armed Forces, actually voted against those supports. Over the past eight years, we have more than doubled the defence budget, and every single time those votes came up, the member opposite, while she has been a member of the House, voted against them. I just wonder how she reconciles her statement of support with her actions. I would remind her that deeds speak.

[National Defence, September 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share with the House that the military justice system modernization act is being debated in the House this week. Among a number of substantive amendments to the National Defence Act, this legislation would codify in law that CAF would no longer have jurisdiction over Criminal Code offences and sexual offences committed in Canada, and it would increase the independence of military justice actors.

This is the right thing to do for our people, for our military and for our country. Let us not engage in political gamesmanship with this important legislation. Let us get it to committee to allow it to do its important work, and let us get it done. People are counting on us.

[Military Justice System Modernization Act, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I would like to extend my appreciation to the member opposite for her lifelong dedication to ensuring that every member of the Canadian Armed Forces and all employees of the Department of National Defence are treated with respect and compassion and are provided with the appropriate supports.

I agree wholeheartedly with the need for action, and we are taking that action, but first of all we need to listen. We need to hear the voices of survivors, victims and witnesses. To hear their lived experience, their advocacy and their testimony is important. I want to assure the member that in this process the Canadian Armed Forces has interviewed over 16,000 of those people and heard their voices. Madam Justice Arbour interviewed hundreds of witnesses and advocates in order to reach conclusions.

I believe that what we brought forward in this bill is helpful and has important steps—