Vance Badawey

[Oil and Gas Industry, May 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to take part in tonight's debate on this very important topic.

The member is correct in that we must act on transitioning Canadian industry towards a sustainable green economy as well as make sure that those who pollute pay their fair share.

This is generational: ensuring that we build the economy of the future, both with investments in key transitional sectors of the economy, as well as developing a fair tax base so that we are able to make these key investments in a fiscally responsible way.

Last month, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance announced bold actions in budget 2024 to build a fairer future. We firmly believe that, at a time when middle-class Canadians are struggling to get ahead, when their hard work is not paying off, it is necessary for the government to improve the fairness of Canada's tax system. This means asking the wealthiest Canadians to contribute a bit more so that we can make investments to ensure a fair chance for every generation.

Since taking office, we have reduced taxes for the middle class while implementing measures to ensure that the wealthiest individuals and corporations are contributing their fair share. One way we propose to do that is by increasing the inclusion rate on capital gains realized annually above $250,000 by individuals and all capital gains realized by corporations and trusts from one-half to two-thirds effective June 25, 2024. Of course, principal residences will continue to be exempt from capital gains. It is expected that this new measure will generate more than $19 billion in new revenues over the next five years. This is new money that will be available to help fund the green transition.

We have also permanently increased the corporate income tax rate by 1.5% on bank and insurance company groups in Canada and introduced a one-time Canada recovery dividend of 15% on the largest bank and insurance company groups. In addition, we have introduced a 2% tax that applies on the net value of share buybacks by public corporations throughout the country, and we have implemented a luxury tax on private jets and luxury cars priced over $100,000 and boats priced over $250,000. To further increase fairness, our government proposed to modernize the alternative minimum tax to ensure that the wealthiest Canadians do not avoid paying their fair share through the significant use of deductions, credits and other tax preferences. This is just a small part of our plan.

Tax fairness is being coupled with creating an investment environment that will attract foreign investment in key sectors, which will help Canada grow into the next sustainable economy of the future. Canada is at the forefront of the global race to attract investment and seize the opportunities that the global transition to net zero presents.

I hope the member opposite saw the announcement our government made with Honda. The $15-billion investment in Canada was made possible, not only by Honda, but in partnership and in line with our government's investment in the clean economy.

[Business of Supply, May 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this is something that I have been hearing a lot about, especially of late, in particular as it relates to some of the agendas, mostly political. With that, certain individuals seem to be fanning the flames of hate to further their own agendas.

Hate is on the rise in Canada. It is alarming and distressing to hear numerous accounts of hatred against people in our public forum, for example. This includes a rise in both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Hatred has no place in this country, in Canada. All people must feel safe to express themselves, whether it be online or off-line.

Can the Minister of Justice please discuss how the online harms act would help keep us safe from hatred?

[Business of Supply, May 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as members of Parliament, we were all elected by Canadians with the duty to improve their lives and make Canada a better and safer place. The issue of auto theft should not be partisan; at the end of the day, we are all here with a genuine wish to bring these crimes to an end. One way to do this is through collaboration. As we have seen, the federal government stood on Monday alongside police forces and municipalities.

Can the minister share with us his thoughts on the importance of cross-partisan collaboration, in order to put an end to auto theft crimes?

[Business of Supply, May 23rd, 2024]

Madam Chair, one of the limits on access to justice is that many people do not know that there is a wrongful convictions review process in the first place. Often they do not have the resources to apply in the current process. Can the minister please discuss the proactive outreach measures in Bill C-40 to help ensure that those in need can in fact apply?

[Business of Supply, May 23rd, 2024]

Madam Chair, I appreciate the opportunity this evening to speak on an issue of major concern to the residents of Canada: the threats of organized crime and money laundering and the measures that the Government of Canada is taking to respond to these serious problems.

Specifically, I am going to share with everyone how the government proposes to strengthen the robust framework that is in place in the Criminal Code to address these serious crimes. The government has been listening to the concerns of communities in Canada and is acting to ensure that law enforcement and prosecutors have the laws and tools they need to combat these serious crimes.

Organized criminal groups are increasingly sophisticated and mobile. Their activities extend beyond the illegal drug trade to include the trafficking of human beings, cross-border smuggling, counterfeit goods, natural resource crimes and money laundering.

As we have seen in recent years, organized crime has also expanded its focus to auto theft. Organized crime has devastating impacts on our health, safety and economic security. These impacts include the harms of substance use and the tragedy associated with overdose; the loss of financial security due to crimes such as auto theft and frauds; and the erosion of our communities' sense of safety and security.

However, I am pleased to speak today about some of the considerable tools that police and prosecutors have to assist them in the investigation and prosecution of organized crime offences and money laundering. The Criminal Code defines a criminal organization broadly. It refers to “a group, however organized...of three or more persons in or outside Canada” that “has as one of its main purposes or main activities” to commit or facilitate a serious offence that would “result in...a material benefit” for anyone in the group.

A serious offence is one that is punishable by at least five years' imprisonment or that is otherwise prescribed by regulation. As well, there are four specific criminal organization offences in the Criminal Code. These consist of participating in the activities of a criminal organization, recruiting members for a criminal organization, committing an indictable offence for a criminal organization and instructing the commission of an offence for a criminal organization. These offences are punishable by significant penalties, including up to life imprisonment for instructing the commission of an offence for a criminal organization.

The involvement of organized crime in an offence has further implications under the Criminal Code, both prior to a trial and following a conviction. These include the availability of enhanced tools to enable police to investigate offences involving organized crime. They also include the requirement for a person charged with an offence involving organized crime to justify why their release from custody pending trial is, in fact, warranted.

There are significant implications for an offender who is convicted of a criminal organization offence. They include that the courts must consider, as an aggravating factor for sentencing, that a crime was committed for the benefit of a criminal organization. All murders connected to an organized crime are automatically treated as first-degree murder, regardless of whether or not they were planned and deliberate. There are increased maximum and mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment for certain offences committed in connection with organized crime, and the offender may face forfeiture of the proceeds of their crime unless they can demonstrate that the property was not obtained or derived from organized crime activity.

Although the Criminal Code has a comprehensive framework to address organized crime in all its forms, the government has in recent months considered how best to update our criminal law as organized crime shifts its strategies. That is why I am pleased to outline the measures included in Bill C-69, the budget implementation act.

To respond to the rise in motor vehicle theft, particularly where violence and organized crime are involved, the proposed amendments include the following: new offences targeting auto theft and its links to violence and organized crime, which would carry a maximum penalty of 14 years of imprisonment; new offences for possession and distribution of a device suitable for committing auto theft, which would carry a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment; a new aggravating factor at sentencing if an offender involved a young person in committing a crime; and, lastly, a new offence for laundering proceeds of crime for the benefit of a criminal organization, which would carry a maximum penalty of 14 years of imprisonment.

However, this is not all the government has been doing to provide law enforcement and prosecutors with tools in the Criminal Code to respond to the serious crimes of money laundering and terrorist financing. In recent years, the Government of Canada has introduced legislative reforms to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, the Income Tax Act and the Criminal Code to better respond to money laundering and terrorist financing.

Having said all that, I have a question for the minister with respect to the notwithstanding clause.

We have often heard from the leader of the new Reform Party across the way about the notwithstanding clause. However, zero is the number of times that any federal government from any party has ever used the notwithstanding clause, as this would negate enshrined freedoms of Canadians. Furthermore, it has only rarely been used by provinces. However, two weeks ago, the Leader of the Opposition, the new Reform Party, said that he would trample on our charter and use the notwithstanding clause to knowingly violate Canadians' rights. This is very serious.

Can the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada talk to this chamber about the notwithstanding clause and why it should not be used to attack the rights and freedoms of Canadians as proposed by the Leader of the Opposition, the new Reform Party?

[Criminal Code, May 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity today to speak about Bill S-224, an act to amend the Criminal Code with regard to trafficking in persons.

This is a bill that presents the opportunity to consider Canada's criminal justice response to human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a devastating crime that involves recruiting, moving or holding victims in order to exploit these individuals for profit, usually for sexual exploitation or forced labour. Traffickers can control and pressure victims through force or through threats, including mental and emotional abuse and manipulation.

Human traffickers prey on individuals who may be in challenging situations. This could be someone who is not in contact with their family, struggling with their identity, a survivor of abuse or someone in desperate need to work for money. Whatever the reason, victims are often unaware that they are being groomed, as traffickers are often expert manipulators.

Human trafficking can involve crossing borders and, according to the UN, is becoming more difficult to detect. In 2022, for the first time, the UN reported a decrease in the number of victims detected globally. The “Global Report on Trafficking in Persons” posits that this decrease may be due to a lower institutional capacity to detect victims, fewer opportunities to traffic resulting from COVID-19 preventive restrictions and a proliferation of clandestine trafficking locations.

The UN also highlighted that climate change is multiplying trafficking risks. Climate migrants are vulnerable to trafficking, and in 2021, 23.7 million people were displaced by weather-induced natural disasters, while many others crossed borders to escape climate-induced poverty.

Importantly, human trafficking is not just a problem that occurs internationally; it is happening right now in communities across Canada.

Most trafficking convictions in Canada involve Canadian citizens. In some cases, however, they involve permanent residents or foreign nationals who are trafficked into Canada. These individuals may enter the country willingly, only to later find themselves in exploitative situations. For both internationally and domestically trafficked persons, vulnerability to being trafficked is heightened by economic deprivation, lack of opportunity or social isolation. In Canada, this includes population groups such as indigenous women and girls, migrants and new immigrants, members of the LGBTQ2 community, persons with disabilities, children in care and other at-risk youth.

I would also like to underscore the particular impact of human trafficking on indigenous women and girls.

The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls emphasizes the disproportionate impact of human trafficking and sexual exploitation on indigenous women and girls due to intersecting factors that increase the likelihood of being targeted by a trafficker. These include systemic racism, violence against indigenous women and girls, intergenerational trauma from colonization, lack of access to social and economic resources, and colonial assimilation policies.

That is why Canada has continued to demonstrate leadership in combatting human trafficking. Back in 2005, Canada enacted human trafficking offences in the Criminal Code. Those offences have been amended several times—including by our government in 2019 through former Bill C-75, which Conservatives are fond of maligning—to ensure a robust response.

For example, Bill C-75 brought into force a provision that allows prosecutors to prove one of the elements of the human trafficking offence, that the accused exercised control, direction or influence over the movements of a victim, by establishing that the accused lived with or was habitually in the company of the victim. We have heard the Conservatives say they would repeal Bill C-75, so I am curious as to whether they also plan to repeal this provision.

Moreover, in 2019, the Government of Canada launched the national strategy to combat human trafficking. This strategy is led by Public Safety Canada and is a five-year, whole-of-government approach to address human trafficking. It frames federal activities under the internationally recognized pillars of prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships. It also includes a fifth pillar of empowerment, which aims to enhance supports and services for victims and survivors of human trafficking.

Additionally, the Department of Justice's victims fund helps to ensure that victims and survivors of crime have improved access to justice and to give them a more effective voice in the criminal justice system. Since 2012, the Department of Justice has undertaken policy and program development through the federal victims strategy to support non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to provide services and supports for victims and survivors of human trafficking. Since 2018, the victims fund has had an allocation of $1 million annually to support victims and survivors of human trafficking.

In terms of our legislative approach, the Criminal Code's main trafficking offence prohibits recruiting, transporting or harbouring victims to exploit them or to facilitate their exploitation by someone else under section 279.01. Separate offences criminalize materially benefiting from human trafficking under subsection 279.02(1) and withholding or destroying identity documents, whether authentic or forged, to facilitate human trafficking under subsection 279.03(1). In addition to these adult-trafficking offences, the Criminal Code also contains child-specific human trafficking offences. I stress that all of these offences have extraterritorial application, meaning that a Canadian or a permanent resident who engages in this conduct abroad can be prosecuted in Canada under subsection 7(4.2).

Importantly, convictions have been secured under these offences, including where traffickers have exploited their victims' vulnerabilities without using physical violence. Both the Ontario and the Quebec courts of appeal have found that under the existing human trafficking offences, prosecutors do not need to prove that the victim was actually afraid, that the accused used or threatened the use of physical violence or even that exploitation actually occurred. Prosecutors need only prove that a reasonable person in the victim's circumstances would believe their physical or psychological safety would be threatened if they failed to provide the labour or services required of them.

We look forward to proceeding with this discussion this evening, and I will end my comments here.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, May 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, last week, it was a pleasure to be in my hometown of Port Colborne, Ontario, along with the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario, to announce a $1.6-billion investment by Asahi Kasei, a company that is going to strengthen the Honda supply chain, not only in Ontario, but also across the country. This is a game-changer for the Niagara region, game-changer economically. It is putting people to work, as well as strengthening the Niagara Ports trade corridor.

My question to the member is with respect to supply chains. How do this investment and the actions taken by this government strengthen our supply chains, as well as provide an integration of our supply chains, not only here domestically, but also binationally and, equally as important, internationally?

[Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, May 6th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, later today, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence stakeholder groups will be hosting a special event for MPs and senators, as well as officials and staff, to learn more about the triple bottom line impacts of this massive freshwater system.

Representatives from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the Lake Champlain Basin Program, the IJC, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, the OCFA and many more will be on hand to take questions about what they do to help sustain the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River as economic and social drivers for millions of Canadians and Americans.

This evening, we will also be treated to a special live performance of We Are The Water, by Welland Centennial Secondary School. Trust me: This is a performance that members do not want to miss. I encourage all members, as well as their respective staff, to attend at 6:00 p.m. at the SJAM building.

Canada's freshwater resources are critical to Canada's future and deserve our unwavering respect. I am very pleased to share and support the binational work being done throughout the basins. Come out and see how we are keeping the “great” in the Great Lakes.

[Welland Sports Wall of Fame, May 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this weekend I will be attending the Sports Wall of Fame class of 2024 induction ceremony in the city of Welland.

I wish to recognize and congratulate Dan Girardi, Jack “JB” Ballantyne and Steve Latinovich for their contributions to hockey, Corey Lee for his contributions to judo, Lauren Aiello for her contributions to rowing, Mike Rao for his contributions to basketball, and Ray Sarkis for his contributions in sport at Niagara College.

I also wish to congratulate the three teams being inducted for winning Ontario Championships: the 1973 Welland Atlas Steels tykes baseball team; the 1977 Club Richelieu midget baseball team; and the 2016 Jean Vanier Lynx, senior girls high school basketball team.

Sports are more than just games. They are powerful agents of positive change within our communities. All of these individuals have inspired future athletes and our community at large. I look forward to recognizing their successes this weekend.

[National Tourism Week, April 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, during National Tourism Week, we recognize the tremendous impact tourism has on all our regions across this great nation and, of course, on the Canadian economy.

The government is there to support our tourism sector with, for example, the tourism growth fund, available across Canada. The Niagara Tourism Network, our region’s destination marketing organization, works hard to promote the magnificent Niagara Region and all it has to offer to more than 14 million visitors a year. All 12 municipalities contribute to a plethora of destinations: the falls and wineries; culinary, indigenous, historical and waterfront destinations; white sand beaches; recreation trails; sport tourism and sport fishing; unique shopping districts; and events and festivals.

Niagara continues to open its front door to welcome the world. Happy National Tourism Week.