Steven Blaney

[Public Safety, February 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve better than an opposition leader who attacks the credibility of those who are there to protect us.

Let us face reality. For 30 years, those men and women at CSIS, working at protecting Canadians, have worked within the law. I invite the member to apologize for pretending that they have broken the law, because that is not the case. This is in the report. They are complying with the law.

Let us move this bill forward so we can better protect Canadians.

[Public Safety, February 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am confident that the committee will be diligent and professional in examining this bill, which is so important to Canadians, in order to protect them from the terrorist threat.

I hope that delay tactics will not be used to stop the committee from examining this important bill since that would prevent Canadians from benefiting from the excellent additional measures found in Bill C-51.

[Points of Order, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for decorum in the House. I apologize and I withdraw the unparliamentary comments I made and may have made about the Leader of the Opposition.

[Public Safety, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Supreme Court and the Federal Court have twice enhanced the powers of our review committee. We can be very proud of that.

This is an independent review body with extensive powers to decide the scope and type of investigations it conducts. It is accountable, it certifies the report of the director of the intelligence service and it investigates activities at its own discretion, free from government involvement or partisanship.

We can be proud of our review committee.

[Public Safety, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the review committee is independent and reviews activities.

However, Bill C-51 provides for ongoing review mechanisms, such as judicial consent and the authorization of the attorney general. The people who protect us should not be treated like criminals. It is not true to say that they are breaking the law. We have a report from the review committee itself. The agents are doing important work and we must not undermine their credibility.

I urge parliamentarians to respect those who protect us in their debates.

[Public Safety, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, preventing high-risk travellers from boarding a plane, meeting with parents to prevent their child from falling prey to radicalization, ensuring that foreign affairs officers share information about national security with the RCMP, shutting down a website that posts hate propaganda, preventing an imminent attack on Canadians are all measures found in this bill. I hope that we will be able to debate them in committee.

I look forward to meeting with members of the committee to discuss the bill.

[Public Safety, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the media are reporting that the NDP do not even want to debate the terms of the committee or the importance of debating the bill.

I find it very deplorable that the Leader of the Opposition has attacked the credibility of members of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. These people dedicate their lives to protecting Canadians. They obey the law and do not deserve to be treated like criminals by the Leader of the Opposition.

I am asking him to apologize and to respect the people who protect Canadians. I am asking him to defend his misguided ideas with arguments and not lies.

[Public Safety, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the House voted for this bill yesterday. I am disappointed to see that the NDP did not want this bill to move on.

I think we should care about terrorism in this country. As elected members, we should do what we can to give the needed tools to our police officers, law enforcement, and security intelligence. We should show them respect, a thing that the leader of the opposition has not been able to do.

We will stand for Canadians and protect them against terrorism.

[Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, February 23rd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague five questions about five necessary measures in the bill.

Does she agree with preventing potential high-risk terrorists from boarding a plane in order to stop them from committing terrorist acts?

Does she agree that our intelligence officers should meet with parents in order to prevent a young person from being radicalized?

Does she agree that a Foreign Affairs official should be able to speak to an RCMP officer in order to identify an individual who represents a threat to national security?

What does she think of blocking a website that contains hate and jihadist propaganda?

Finally, does she agree that we should give our police officers the ability to prevent an imminent terrorist attack against Canadian citizens by an individual?

These five measures are found in Bill C-51.

[Public Safety, February 23rd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that our Conservative government is the one that implemented the first cybersecurity strategy. We are investing $245 million in that strategy, which seeks to protect government entities, promote co-operation with the private sector and encourage individuals to protect themselves from cyberthreats.

We take cyberthreats seriously and we are acting accordingly.