Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, experts have raised serious concerns about the impacts that Bill C-51 could have on legitimate dissent and peaceful protests. The bill creates a new definition for activity that undermines the sovereignty, security, or territorial integrity of Canada. This includes t

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, many Canadians are concerned that Bill C-51 would go too far by lumping together legal dissent with terrorist activity. When it comes to critical anti-terrorism outreach at home, the Conservatives are still missing in action. The only counter-radicalization program t

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, many Canadians are raising serious questions about the Conservatives' new anti-terrorism legislation. Everyone in this place agrees that terrorism is a real threat and must be confronted head on, so people are wondering why the Conservatives are dismissing advice fro

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, the current government does not seem to get the message. More powers for CSIS means a need for better oversight. In case the minister missed it, let me quote the latest annual report from the Security Intelligence Review Committee. This report said that “...it seems

National Defence  Mr. Speaker, emails released to the Ottawa Citizen today show that on the day of the shooting on Parliament Hill in October, Canadian military leaders were saying that the event presented a “strategic opportunity” to affirm Canada's participation in the war in Iraq. Subsequently

Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act  Mr. Speaker, I am a bit astounded by this debate. First we have the Liberals endorsing the concept of time allocation, and now we have the minister telling us not to worry, that it can be debated in the Senate. When this bill was introduced, time allocation was used at second re

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Senate report on the CIA's so-called enhanced interrogation techniques is very clear: torture is not only morally wrong, it does not work. Information obtained through torture is unreliable. However, despite this, the Conservatives have directed Canadian s

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition containing dozens of signatures from the Greater Victoria area, the majority of them from my riding, forwarded to me by the very engaged citizens of Fair Vote Canada. The petition notes the unfairness of our winner-take-all system,

Correctional Service of Canada  Mr. Speaker, it is way simpler than that. This minister needs to stop putting the mentally ill in solitary confinement and start getting them the treatment they need. It has now been almost a year since the inquest into Ashley Smith's death. That inquest made 104 recommendations

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask this member the same question I previously asked the member for Don Valley East When the Conservatives talked about enabling small businesses to create jobs, they came up with the EI job credit that the Parliamentary Budget Officer said would cos

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments, but I was particularly interested when he talked about the government's commitment to create jobs. I just wondered whether or not he really agrees with the Parliamentary Budget Officer, because the Parliamentary Budget Office

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I was particularly moved by the colleague's comments about refugees. I have been involved with refugees in my riding for a long time, and the Conservatives are trying to somehow cast aspersions on those who are seeking a safe place for their families when they come t

Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act  Mr. Speaker, the minister gave the speech I expected to hear from him, again trying to create some kind of divide on national security that does not exist. The divide is on the proposed legislation, and the fact that it is flawed legislation. I would like to know whether the min

Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act  Mr. Speaker, it will be tough to give a short answer on that one. We tried to do two things. One was to improve the existing SIRC. That was rejected. The other thing we wanted to do was along the lines of a motion that was introduced almost a year ago by the member for St. John

Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act  Mr. Speaker, that is another example of overreach by the government. There are many that I could have talked about during my speech if I had had the time. The government is saying that the courts should issue a warrant without respect to any law or the law of any foreign state