Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to respond to the member for Lévis—Lotbinière's inquiry. It would appear that the member opposite is relying almost entirely on something he read in the newspaper. There is a very old saying that those who do not read the newspaper may be uninformed, but those who do read the newspaper may be misinformed.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, our government is very committed to ensuring that we do the right thing to protect victims and to combat human trafficking, the victims of which are among society's most vulnerable. The bill introduced by the Minister of Justice yesterday would give law enforcement and prosecutors new tools to investigate and prosecute certain human trafficking offences that could be particularly difficult to prove.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to join in the second reading debate of Bill C-305, an act to amend the Criminal Code concerning mischief, which was introduced in the House on September 27 by the member for Nepean. I would like to begin by thanking the member for Nepean for bringing this important issue before the chamber to give this Parliament an opportunity to speak to it.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, as I have already indicated, the offences related to the activities of Backpage.com are already well codified in Canadian law. The sexual exploitation of women and girls in Canada is, of course, a serious issue for our government. I would like to share some statistics which confirm that the vast majority of human trafficked victims in Canada are in fact young women.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Peace River—Westlock for his strong interest and advocacy around this issue, and I hope to have an opportunity to respond to his concerns. Our government, the justice minister, and myself take the issue of sex trafficking and exploitation of women and girls very seriously.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, today I rise to contribute to the second reading debate on the matter of Bill C-235, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, fetal alcohol disorder. I would like to begin by thanking most sincerely the member for Yukon for his advocacy on this very important issue.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, our government committed to legalizing, strictly regulating, and restricting access to marijuana in order to keep it out of the hands of youth and to keep profits out of the hands of criminals. The government, in order to get the best advice on what a regulated regime for legal access to marijuana could look like, appointed a task force of nine eminently qualified Canadians.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, to be very clear, the task force finalized its report on November 30. In mid-December that report will be released to all MPs and to the public. If I may be clear again, no member of our government has yet seen the final report. We will see it at the same time as every member of this House, when it is made public in mid-December.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and advise the member that his speculations are completely without merit and absolutely false. Let me be very clear. No member of this government has yet seen the task force's final report. We will see it at the same time as every member of Parliament when it is made public in mid-December.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, our government has been unequivocal from the outset that we are committed to legalizing, strictly regulating, and restricting access to marijuana to keep it out of the hands of youth and to keep profits out of the hands of criminals. We are taking a public health-based approach to establish a system, to enforce a system of strict production, distribution, and sales of marijuana.

Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, through you, I would like to seek some clarification on the comments made by the member regarding the efficacy of the TFSA. He mentioned quite passionately the number of families in his area who are living very close to the poverty line and who are within only $200 of being unable to pay their bills each month, which I also think is a concern across Canada.

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I also would like to add my thanks to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade for his remarks and his very cogent explanation of the benefits of the full implementation of the TFA. We have certainly come to understand that the implementation of this trade agreement will provide an opportunity to open up new markets for Canadian products, to grow businesses, and create jobs in this country.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for raising this important issue. This government takes very seriously the issue of sex trafficking in our country. We are working very carefully with the provinces and territories, and with law enforcement partners across the country, to address this very important issue.

National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act  Madam Speaker, from my experience in dealing with matters of national security, I know that in order to be held accountable and to hold others accountable, it is important to have the right information at the right time. However, operational matters, because of their very nature, do require that certain information and certain types of intelligence gathering and certain ongoing operations remain secret.

National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act  Madam Speaker, in my experience, those who are tasked with the responsibility of keeping us safe often find themselves faced with difficult choices. The imperative of protecting our citizens and making cases against those who would harm us can sometimes lead to errors in judgment in the exercise of those authorities.