National Defence Act  Madam Speaker, my reading has indicated that it goes back even further than the Boer War. It goes back to the Civil War in the United States. I know it is an issue. I know it is being studied. There are a lot of people out there who believe that this needs to be changed. We need

National Defence Act  Madam Speaker, it is important that more people are advocating for our seniors. I am happy to know that our life expectancy is extending, and therefore some of our government programs and policies will also need to change. I would like to thank the member for bringing up that par

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to begin our debate on Bill C-93, which will amend the Criminal Records Act so that individuals who have criminal records for the simple possession of cannabis can quickly clear their record and live their lives to the fullest. This bill proposes

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her advocacy. I think that what we are trying to do is to make this happen quickly. The Parole Board has made it quite clear that part of its plan is an outreach strategy to connect with community organizations, to connect w

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, I have seen news reports that they are tracking that change. They have seen it. Of course, this is not going to happen overnight. We are only six months in, but they have already seen changes. We still have more work to do in order to get the full effect of the bill

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, I think it was quite clear through the process of the legalization of cannabis that this would be one element of it. We could not introduce it before the original bill was put forward, as this is part of that process. The way this bill was drafted, it is quite clea

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, the cost of a pardon at $631 makes it prohibitive for people, especially people who have been disadvantaged their entire lives. This is what we are trying to change. We are trying to make it so that people have access to this, so they can get a job, rent an apartment

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely right. We understood the kind of impact this could have on the lives of people and really wanted to make sure we rolled it out well. We have talked to a lot of people and we have listened. However, we decided that this approach to a pa

Criminal Records Act  Mr. Speaker, we wanted to achieve something that would make this happen quickly and give people a chance to build new lives. The impact on individuals, whether an expungement or a pardon, is virtually identical and a pardon allows us to move this along a lot quicker. We are goi

Expungement of Certain Cannabis-related Convictions Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to the debate on Bill C-415, an act to establish a procedure for expunging certain cannabis-related convictions. I thank the hon. member for Victoria for his involvement in this file. I know that we have different points of view o

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, in response to the hon. member's question, let me first offer my sympathy to those impacted by this flooding in British Columbia last May and particularly in Grand Forks, the community that was hardest hit. As my own community of Constance Bay was devastated by flood

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is right. There is the immediate response for when it comes to rebuilding for a particular emergency situation, but there is also the longer-term mitigation efforts that need to be made in order to adjust our communities to the realities of climate

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Criminal Code listing regime is an important tool for countering terrorism and is part of the government's commitment to keep Canadians safe. The update to the listings is an important step to fight terrorism globally and to ensure that Canada remains a safe and

Telecommunications  Mr. Speaker, our government takes the cybersecurity of Canadians very seriously, and we will never compromise on national security. We are investing more than $869 million to fund a new cybersecurity strategy to ensure secure and resilient cyber-systems and to encourage innovatio

Telecommunications  Mr. Speaker, we are not going to pre-empt the government's review of 5G security. We will not commit to any specific course of action until all considerations have been taken into account. All options remain open. We are well aware of the urgency of this issue given that the race