House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 34% of the vote.
International Trade June 5th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, the criticism of Conservative partisanship is universal. This matter is deeply personal to the 1,200 workers at Evraz steel in Saskatchewan. As the Regina Leader-Post said today,
“in the face of what could be a serious threat to the national and provincial economies, one might hope someone who aspires to be prime minister would holster petty partisanship for the sake of nation.” That is good advice.
International Trade June 5th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs are completely unacceptable, even more so because they are imposed on the preposterous pretext of national security. Canada is fighting back to support Canadian workers and the businesses that employ them.
From coast to coast, a very strong team Canada effort is pulling together, except, apparently, for the Leader of the Opposition. Let me quote The Hamilton Spectator, which states, “Apparently nothing, not even pulling together in a national crisis, tops partisan sniping” for the Conservative leader. I invite him here and now—
Questions on the Order Paper June 5th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, under the authority of the chief firearms officers, an authorization to transport is issued for the movement, or transport, of restricted and prohibited firearms. The application for an authorization to transport requires the client, the licencee, to indicate the reason for transport, which the chief firearms officer of jurisdiction will approve or refuse.
Since December 1, 1998, with the coming into force of the Firearms Act, all authorizations to transport that have been issued—i.e., approved--are retained within the Canadian Firearms Information System.
An analysis on all valid authorizations to transport as of August 1, 2015, established that 138,184, or 96.5%, of the 143,177 valid authorizations to transport were issued for one of two reasons for transport: first, transport of restricted firearms and/or prohibited handguns designated 12(6.1), possessed for the purpose of target practice, to and from all shooting clubs and ranges approved under section 29 of the Firearms Act; second, transport of a newly acquired restricted firearm and/or prohibited firearm from the place of acquisition to the place of registration.
On September 2, 2015, the legislative process for authorizations to transport was altered as a result of Bill C-42, whereby six transportation provisions for restricted and prohibited firearms would now be a condition on a firearms licence as opposed to through an authorization to transport.
Under a Bill C-71 regime, the two transportation provisions noted above would continue to be a condition on a firearms licence.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship June 4th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, the security agencies of the country, particularly CBSA, have made the appropriate arrangements internally to make sure they have the resources and facilities at the border to deal with all circumstances, usual and unusual. In the last budget, the Minister of Finance made $173 million available to the various agencies dealing with this—the CBSA, the RCMP, and the immigration and refugees department—to make sure that we can enforce all Canadian laws and honour all Canadian international obligations.
Public Safety June 1st, 2018
Madam Speaker, the public can have absolute confidence in the police and security agencies of both Canada and Quebec, and the local municipal authorities in the communities affected.
The preparations have been thorough. The officials have been working on this for months to ensure that the Canadian public will be safe, that the attendees at the summit will be safe, and that this event can be conducted successfully and safely for all concerned.
Public Safety June 1st, 2018
Madam Speaker, yes, absolutely, there have been meticulous preparations involving, of course, the RCMP and other national police and security agencies, as well as the local and provincial authorities in Quebec. The co-operation and collaboration has been absolutely seamless. The professionals in our police services federally, provincially, and municipally are determined to make sure that this event occurs successfully and safely.
Public Safety May 31st, 2018
Mr. Speaker, last fall, I condemned Russia's abuse of the Interpol notice system to try to block Bill Browder from visiting Canada to celebrate the passage of Canada's Magnitsky act. As I said then, “Canada will decide admissibility to Canada, not the Kremlin.” Interpol notices are a valuable tool that should not be perverted for other purposes, such as foreign political interference.
When Mr. Browder was in Canada earlier this year, he was welcomed and celebrated as a human rights champion, including by all sides in the House, and I am sure this will continue.
Public Safety May 31st, 2018
Mr. Speaker, arrangements are firmly in place to deal with all eventualities around the G7 summit. Obviously, meetings of the G7 are extremely important to the participants, but also to many other countries around the world. Security is important. That is the responsibility of the host country. The arrangements have been put in place, and the opposition parties have been briefed. Canadians can count on the excellent professionalism of their police and security services.
National Security Act, 2017 May 28th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, there are many provisions that work in that direction through the 10 or 11 different parts in the bill. I will go through two of the most important.
The first is the national security and intelligence review agency, which for the first time gives a single agency the authority to scrutinize the activities of all the intelligence and security agencies and functions within the government of Canada wherever they may be vested across the whole of government. If there is an issue, one can follow the trail of evidence from one agency to the next to the next, and we will not have to deal with truncated information in silos. This will be the most comprehensive review organization that has ever existed in our national security architecture.
The second, although there are many, is the creation of the new intelligence commissioner. For the first time ever, we will have an official appointed with the responsibility to conduct not only a review of activities after the fact, but to scrutinize activities before they take place, and either authorize them or refuse to authorize them if this official finds the particular behaviour to be unreasonable or inappropriate. For the first time ever, we will actually have oversight and not just review.
Those are just two examples of how agencies like this ensure that the security apparatus of the country is doing what it needs to do to keep people safe, while at the same time doing it in a way that protects rights and freedoms.
National Security Act, 2017 May 28th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, once again, this is consistent with the two basic tenets of this legislation: keeping Canadians safe and safeguarding Canadian rights and freedoms. We need to make sure that we accomplish both of those objectives with the same degree of enthusiasm and quality. Doing that, in part, requires that we say explicitly in this legislation that where offenders may be young people, the existing provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act would apply to the proceedings involving young people, to ensure that the thoughtful provisions of that legislation that are particularly designed and shaped to deal with young people in trouble with the law would apply in cases that engage national security, just as they would apply in respect of any other criminal matter. That is the point here: to make sure that the Youth Criminal Justice Act has the same force and effect with respect to proceedings under national security as it would have in relation to any other criminal matter. In our view, that is an appropriate way to proceed. It would achieve the objective of protecting Canadians and also of safeguarding rights and freedoms.