Jennifer O'Connell

[Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, October 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want to know why the Leader of the Opposition will not get his security clearance.

Why does he not want to learn about ways that governments like India work to disrupt our institutions? It cannot be those weak excuses that he would be muzzled, because every other leader in the House has received their clearance and has not been prevented from speaking on the matter at hand.

The Leader of the Opposition has a choice. He can get the clearance, take the briefings and protect the country or he can turn a blind eye to the actions of governments like India, which try to undermine our democracy.

Will he stand up for Canadians or will he stand with governments like India? The Leader of the Opposition has choice, party over country. Canadians want to know.

[Public Services and Procurement, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, we welcome the opportunity to get to the bottom of the situation to ensure trust in our procurement system.

Let us also be clear with Canadians on the fact that it was the Conservative Party that first initiated contracts with GC Strategies. Therefore I really hope the Auditor General looks back and ensures that any wrongdoing is also looked at from the beginning of the contracts with that company, because all Canadians deserve to know that there is trust in our procurement system.

The Conservatives went quiet all of a sudden.

[Public Services and Procurement, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives play with theatrics, we are actually committed to ensuring that our procurement system is something Canadians have trust in. Anybody who has operated without following the rules and the laws should be held accountable; we have said that from the beginning. This is precisely why CBSA has already initiated a number of measures and recommendations and is working with the Auditor General to ensure that there is trust in our procurement system.

[Public Safety, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that, every time I stand in this place and call out Conservative hypocrisy around violence in our communities, they cannot stand it. This is why they try to silence voices like mine, which stand up for women in particular, who are disproportionately affected by gun violence. What Conservatives believe is that more guns on our streets will somehow help keep our communities safe.

We know that what keeps communities safe is getting these guns off of our streets and investing in the CBSA to protect our borders. This is while Conservatives take their talking points from the gun lobby.

[Public Safety, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, once again, let us talk about Conservative logic. Conservatives think that putting more guns on our streets is going to somehow keep our communities safer. We know that does not work. Their cuts to the CBSA allowing the import of illegal guns is something that we had to clean up. Conservatives care only about the gun lobby and not about Canadians.

We have put in place—

[Public Safety, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is a shame to see, once again, Conservatives using the talking points of the gun lobby instead of standing up for victims of crime and standing up to get guns off our streets. We also know that women are disproportionately affected by gun violence. What do Conservatives do? They want more guns on our streets. They cut funds from CBSA to stop the import of illegal guns and then stand in this place acting as if they support victims of crime. It is a shame.

We have committed to get guns off our streets while Conservatives work for the gun lobby.

[Public Safety, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I support the initiative that the member opposite has raised and thank her for her work on our public safety committee, where we have discussed this.

We agree that it is crucially important to crack down on criminal organizations, particularly those that recruit young people to subvert the justice system. This is precisely why we restored the funding cut by the Conservatives to invest against gun and gang violence in this country. I hope that we can work across party lines to continue with this investment.

[Foreign Affairs, October 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, once again we see that Conservatives want to play games with incredibly serious issues. We on this side of the House will not. What we will do is ensure that the national security agencies in this country that make regular terrorist listing determinations have the resources they need to do just that. These national security organizations in Canada are constantly reviewing the terrorist listing, and the Minister of Public Safety has ensured that it is put forward for urgent review.

[Democratic Institutions, October 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to foreign interference, this is not a new phenomenon, but what is new to Canadians is a government that actually takes it seriously. That is precisely why we have implemented a number of measures to ensure that our democratic institutions are strengthened and to ensure that it is not at the whim of the Leader of the Opposition when he thinks there is some sort of political advantage to him.

We will take the issues of foreign interference, no matter where they are coming from, incredibly seriously, and we do not cherry-pick like the Conservatives do.

[Democratic Institutions, October 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that the member opposite talks about political interests. It was the Conservative leader, when he was the minister of democratic institutions, who said that he was not going to take foreign interference seriously because it was not in his political interest to do so. On the other hand, on this side of the House, we have taken the issue of foreign interference seriously since day one, which includes ensuring that we are protecting our democratic institutions, including the current study to look into Russian-based influencers operating in Canada, which Conservatives want to block.