House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 34% of the vote.
Foreign Affairs December 5th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, this topic was on the agenda for the G7 security ministers when we met a few weeks ago in Italy. We agreed that we all needed to work very carefully together to collect and preserve all of the evidence from the battlefield, and to make sure that the evidence was in a form in which it could be used in all courts, whether international or domestic, anywhere around the world, to make sure that the interests of justice were served.
Privacy December 5th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, when people cross the border from Canada into the United States, they need to comply with the customs and immigration procedures of the United States. They can do that in the conventional manner in the United States after they have crossed the border—get in line and take their chances—or they can do it in a pre-clearance environment, before they cross the border, where they have the overall umbrella and protection of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Public Safety December 4th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman's sound and fury is signifying nothing. The best experts do not agree with him.
Phil Gurski, a former CSIS officer, now in the private sector, said “the previous government had an abysmal record when it came to countering violent extremism and early detection.” He said that the Conservative government did not care.
Dr. Lorne Dawson, of the University of Waterloo, said “the previous conservative government had...no interest in following up on this, so Canada is late.”
We are getting into the game five years late. That is the Conservative record. It is a mess.
Public Safety December 4th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the opposition has spent the last week deprecating Canadian security agencies on the front line.
However, the previous Conservative government left CSIS without clear legal protections under the Criminal Code. It put our security in a muddle with the Constitution. It provided no framework for dealing with datasets. It left Canada trailing behind on cyber-safety. It did nothing on prevention, and it reduced the budget for our security agencies by more than $1 billion.
There are no lessons to be learned from the Conservative government.
Public Safety December 4th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman is simply wrong.
Like every other civilized country, Canada has a full range of counterterrorism tools, and we use all of them, including the Global Coalition against Daesh, security investigations, surveillance, monitoring, intelligence gathering, lawful sharing, collection of evidence, criminal charges, prosecutions, peace bonds, and public listings, the no-fly list, hoisting passports, authorized threat reduction measures, and prevention initiatives to head off tragedies in advance.
We need all of them, and we use all of them to keep Canadians safe.
Human Rights November 30th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, earlier this week I was very proud to introduce Bill C-66, which would allow the expungement of convictions involving consensual sexual activity between same-sex and age-appropriate partners. People will be able to apply for themselves or for a loved one who has passed away. We have committed $4 million to run the process, which I hope will start very soon.
I encourage all members to help us take this important step toward addressing historical injustices against LGBTQ Canadians, and I would note that with unanimous consent we could move it to committee this afternoon.
Public Safety November 24th, 2017
Madam Speaker, the numbers have been published already.
Canada works constantly with all of our allies, the Five Eyes, G7, Interpol, and others to know as much as we possibly can about every threat.
Our Canadian agencies constantly assess and reassess all the data to be effective and current in keeping Canadians safe and they respond with a full suite of measures, investigations, surveillance, marshalling evidence, lifting passports, no-fly lists, threat reduction initiatives, and criminal proceedings wherever that is possible.
Public Safety November 24th, 2017
Madam Speaker, I am interested in the hon. member's views but there are other views.
Last night in the media, security expert and former CSIS officer Phil Gersky said this, “The previous government had an abysmal record when it came to countering violent extremism and early detection. The Conservative government didn't care.” Dr. Lorne Dawson from the University of Waterloo said, “The previous Conservative government had little or no interest in following up on this, so Canada is late.” They also cut a billion dollars from the security services of Canada.
Official Languages November 23rd, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman has a very important point. The official languages law is a fundamental law of this country, and every Canadian government agency has the duty and obligation to ensure that that law is followed meticulously. I will draw his question to the attention of the president of the CBSA.
Public Safety November 23rd, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is the number released by CSIS two years ago was in the order of 60, and it has confirmed that number remains essentially the same today. Whenever the security and police forces of our country recognize a threat, they take all appropriate measures to deal with that threat. It would have been helpful in these circumstances if the previous government had not cut a billion dollars from those services.