Justin Trudeau

[Firearms, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition knows, we are in the process of establishing that buyback program. The priority was making sure those guns were no longer available to buy, to sell, to bequeath or to use. That has been the case for four years.

What the Leader of the Opposition is conveniently refusing to opine on is the fact that he has committed to the gun lobby across this country that he would reverse the 2020 OIC, which banned those assault-style weapons. He wants to bring those assault-style weapons back, or he can contradict me right here.

[Firearms, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of different types of assault-style weapons that, for the past four years, have been rendered illegal to sell, illegal to buy and illegal to use, including at a gun range.

We are now working on a program to allow those owners to sell them back to the government, for them to be destroyed, and get money so that they can go buy other guns or other products if they want to, which will be legal. This is about fairness, even as we move to keep Canadians safe. Unfortunately, the Leader of the Opposition wants to make those assault weapons legal again.

[Justice, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I will highlight that we worked with provinces, including many provincial Conservative leaders across this country, to bring in bail reform. We will continue to work on things that are keeping Canadians safe.

At the same time, the leader opposite talked about gun crime. We moved forward with some of the strongest measures on gun control that this country has ever seen: a freeze on the purchase of handguns; a total ban on assault-style weapons, which has been in place for four years.

These are the kinds of things that the Conservative Party and its leader have consistently stood against, even as we move to make our communities even safer.

[Justice, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as a democratic country and province, Canada and Quebec allow citizens to use their judicial system to challenge laws they disagree with.

This is exactly what many Quebeckers are doing because they disagree with Bill 21. It is their right, as Quebeckers, to challenge laws they find unfair. That is what is happening, and it is perfectly legitimate. The Quebeckers who are challenging the law are no less Québécois than anyone else.

[Justice, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as the Bloc Québécois leader knows full well, when Bill 21 lands in the Supreme Court, we will intervene in our capacity as the federal government, because we are concerned about the consequences this bill could have on Quebeckers. We will make our voice heard at that time. Yes, we have opinions on how the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Canadians can be better protected, and we will share those opinions.

At the same time, we will always seek to offer everyone the same opportunities to buy a house and build a better future, because we know that young people are struggling these days.

[Mental Health and Addictions, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, there are dozens of people dying every day in provinces right across this country from the opioid epidemic. We could talk about the challenges faced in Alberta. We could talk about the challenges faced in Ontario. We could talk about the challenges faced right across the country. Different provinces and jurisdictions have different approaches. Some work better and some have not worked as well. We will continue to be there in a thoughtful, compassionate, rigorous, science-based way to work with jurisdictions on directions that work best for them and adjust those proposals and those responses as necessary. That is what a responsible government does.

[Mental Health and Addictions, May 1st, 2024]

No, Mr. Speaker. For eight years, almost nine years now, Canadians have seen that our approach on the opioid epidemic is grounded in public safety, in public health, in compassion, in funding frontline workers and in doing things that work to save lives and help people. It is not to have some sort of secret plan, as he proposes.

If the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about secret plans, he would probably do well to actually clear the air for Canadians about his seeking support among members of extremist right wing organizations like Diagolon.

[Justice, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I believe if you or other parliamentarians, or indeed Canadians, look at the transcripts of these questions and answers, they will see that I actually did answer the questions the Leader of the Opposition posed to me in terms of how we were going to work with British Columbia and how we would work with any province that came forward with positions to try to help with the opioid epidemic. We would examine those on their merits.

However, the Leader of the Opposition has not answered Canadians' concerns about why he will not condemn Diagolon, the far right extremist organization and why he will not reject the endorsement of Alex Jones, noted conspiracy theorist.

[Mental Health and Addictions, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately there is fearmongering going on by the Leader of the Opposition right now.

I will recall for people that a number of years ago the City of Vancouver approached us with a desire to decriminalize in its city, and we said, no, we would not do that for Vancouver, that we work with provinces and public health systems. That is why we moved forward with British Columbia on a pilot project it wanted.

With regard to any other province, whether it be Quebec, Ontario or anywhere else, we will work with the governments in place on proposals they may or may not have, in order to deal with the opioid epidemic. That is all.

[Mental Health and Addictions, May 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, we are working with British Columbia to adjust its parameters and desires around the pilot project. We will always be there to work in order to keep Canadians safe.

At the same time, I will point out that the Leader of the Opposition refuses to say a simple thing: that he condemns Diagolon because it is a white nationalist, violent organization, and that he rejects the endorsement of Alex Jones, an extremist conspiracy theorist who denied the deaths of 20 kids at Sandy Hook. These are things that concern Canadians that he should also answer for.