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Feb/6/24 10:38:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, is there anyone in this government who will ever take responsibility for their actions and decisions? The Liberals have been in power for eight years. In those eight years, the rate of violent gun crime has surged. In Canada, in 2022 alone, the rate jumped by 9%. Approximately 14,000 violent crimes were committed with the aid of a firearm in this country in 2022, which breaks down to 36.7 crimes of this type per 100,000 inhabitants. That is 8.9% higher than in 2021. In Gatineau, just on the other side of the river, the number of violent crimes rose by 76% in one year. That is unacceptable. Meanwhile, all the Liberals are doing is once again trying to find other people to blame for their inaction. We, the Conservatives, have a plan. We will take action to fight auto theft and stop the crime.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill (Manicouagan, BQ)

Feb/6/24 10:39:10 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

Madam Speaker, obviously, the Bloc Québécois agrees there is a serious auto theft problem. However, this is not the only problem right now. There is an argument behind the Conservative motion, but it lacks a certain intellectual rigour. For example, it says the law arising from Bill C-5 is largely responsible for the surge in auto thefts, yet Bill C‑5 only received royal assent on November 17, 2022. I would like my colleague to explain how Bill C‑5 can be the reason auto thefts have surged since 2015 when Bill C‑5 was not even in force at the time.

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Mr. Luc Berthold

Feb/6/24 10:40:11 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois just has a tendency to support the Liberal Prime Minister. The Bloc Québécois voted for the Liberal law arising from Bill C-75, which allows car thieves to be released on bail the same day they are arrested. The thieves are arrested, but the next day, they are free to start stealing again. The Bloc Québécois also voted for Bill C-5, which allows car thieves to serve their sentence at home, watching Netflix in the comfort of their living room. The Bloc Québécois does not want a solution that will stop criminals and stop auto theft. They proved it when they voted with the government for Bill C‑75 and Bill C‑5.

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Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Feb/6/24 10:41:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, one thing at issue here is the fact that Conservatives have historically cut CBSA infrastructure. Detector dogs were reduced under their administration. The teams that worked with the United States, in terms of being proactive, were reduced by Conservatives. They implemented a new training program that did not hire workers until they had spent 18 weeks away from their families, getting $125 a week just to be trained for a potential job. Therefore, we are short thousands of workers. They mention five workers in the port of Montreal in their motion. Why do they not specifically outline what they will do for the CBSA officers they refer to as “agents”, who do not get the respect they deserve and do not have the infrastructure to stop the vehicles from being stolen?

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Mr. Luc Berthold

Feb/6/24 10:41:51 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can see the NDP is confused, because, during the Harper years, it was indeed less costly and there was less crime. Crime did not pay during the time of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I can see the NDP has trouble understanding this, but we Conservatives have decided to act. We will continue. We will stop the crime and take steps to reduce auto theft in this country. Car owners will be able to sleep easy. The first thing they do in the morning will no longer be to look outside to see if their car is still where they parked it.

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Hon. Andrew Scheer (Regina—Qu'Appelle, CPC)

Feb/6/24 10:42:35 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise to bring the attention of the Speaker to a very unfortunate incident that happened in Oral Questions yesterday in response to the Leader of the Opposition's very measured policy-oriented question, which I will read right now to provide some context: Mr. Speaker, the advice is to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost and not worth the crime. We now are paying a billion dollars more in insurance premiums because he has led to a quadrupling of car thefts in Toronto. I have a common-sense plan, which I rolled out today, to end house arrest and catch and release for career criminals, and bring in three years of jail for three stolen cars. Will the government accept the common-sense plan? It was very focused on actual policy. No personal attack or insult at all was contained in that question. The Minister of Justice, though, used an extremely unparliamentary word in his response. It was not captured in Hansard, but it was captured on the audio. At the end of his response, the Minister of Justice called the Leader of the Opposition “an effing tool”. This comes from a government that loves to lecture everybody else about raising the level of debate, decorum and civility. Once again, we see Liberal hypocrisy on full display. The Minister of Justice completely lost his cool, lost his temper and hurled that offensive insult in this place, in the House of Commons. The Speaker has issued several rulings in the last few weeks where he has indicated that he is going to try to address these types of comments made in the House. I ask the Speaker to examine the audio. It is clearly audible for all to hear. This offensive, unparliamentary remark needs to be withdrawn, and the minister needs to apologize.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Feb/6/24 10:44:32 a.m.
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I want to thank the hon. official opposition House leader for his intervention. We will certainly look into this and, if need be, come back to the House with the appropriate remedy.

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Hon. Dominic LeBlanc (Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, Lib.)

Feb/6/24 10:44:59 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the opposition and my colleague, the member for Edmonton Mill Woods, for presenting a motion with respect to auto theft, because it will give the government yet another opportunity to demonstrate our leadership on this important matter. Obviously, we share the concerns raised by members in the debate so far today about vehicle theft in Canada. In fact, it is nice to see colleagues on all sides of the aisle agreeing on something for once. As the Minister of Public Safety, protecting Canadians and their safety is at the very heart of my work every day. In pursuit of that goal, we have, as a government, passed historic gun control legislation to keep communities safe from deadly weapons. We have invested in policing and border services to crack down on crime across the country. We have bolstered our borders themselves to go after illegal smuggling, and further investments in both the Border Services Agency and the RCMP will be forthcoming. This effort is about tackling the threat of organized crime to keep people safe and do so in a way that will actually solve problems like auto theft. It is this government that takes a thoughtful and effective approach to protecting Canadians, their families, our neighbourhoods and our businesses. We pursue solutions that work, ones that are grounded in evidence and collaboration, solutions that do not just sound tough on crime but actually are. We are taking that approach to the issue of auto theft. Unlike the Conservative leader, who thinks he can score political points by playing into the fears of Canadians, we want to work with all colleagues and industry, police forces and the insurance industry on solutions that will be effective. We are working with police, car manufacturers, the insurance industry and provinces to solve this increasingly worrisome problem. Preventing and cracking down on auto theft starts by helping police enforce the laws to keep people safe. To that end, we are also working with border services, law enforcement communities in municipalities and provinces, the RCMP and stakeholders across the country to ensure that Canadians feel secure in their communities and are not subject to what is an increasingly violent incidence of automobile theft. Last week, along with my colleague, the Minister of Justice, and my colleagues from the Ontario caucus and Premier Doug Ford of Ontario, we announced another $121 million to prevent gang and gun violence and combat auto theft in the province of Ontario. These investments will support, in a concrete way, efforts to address gun and gang violence and deal with the linkages to serious organized crime. Later this week, as colleagues know, we are continuing to show leadership by bringing together federal ministers; our provincial counterparts; members of territorial and municipal governments; insurance providers; automobile manufacturers; port, rail and industry stakeholders; and leaders in law enforcement, which is important, including police leaders from some of Canada's biggest cities and provincial police forces, at a national summit on combatting auto theft to address this growing challenge in a collaborative and effective way. We know that there is no one solution to such a complex problem. It is only through co-operation and joint efforts between governments, law enforcement and the industry, of course, that we will get the results that Canadians expect from us. Participants at this important summit will discuss the scope and scale of auto theft in Canada and how best to collaborate on concrete solutions and actions that will address, in a real way, this increasing challenge. Solid, clear plans will emerge from the meeting on Thursday, and we will continue to work collaboratively with our partners across the country. We will work on a wide range of solutions, from prevention to detection, enforcement and vehicle recovery. As my colleague, the Minister of Justice, said in Toronto last week, we are open to legislative and regulatory changes as well. Auto theft is a complex challenge that increasingly involves links to organized crime, including transnational organized crime. For solutions to be effective, they need to focus on preventing crime before it starts, cracking down on bad actors by ensuring law enforcement has all the resources it needs and developing better means of tracking and recovering stolen vehicles. These efforts start from a federal perspective with the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA. These federal agencies are looking at every possible solution, in collaboration with the Department of Justice, the Department of Innovation and Transport Canada and, of course, with the local and provincial police forces, car manufacturers and the insurance sector, to see how we all can work together on quickly reducing car thefts, which are causing so much grief and concern among Canadians. The fight against auto theft also calls for deterrence and intervention at every step of the process. From the factories that manufacture vehicles to insurance and security system upgrades, to the moment the crime occurs, we are pursuing effective solutions to prevent crime but also to hold accountable those who perpetrate these crimes. We are addressing the life cycle itself of that stolen car: fraudulent car ownership transfers; the movement of that stolen vehicle on roads or railways; and ultimately, in many cases, the export of that vehicle abroad from our ports. Although criminal investigations for auto theft are led by the police of jurisdiction in the community where the theft takes place, we are actively supporting these important partners in their efforts to combat these crimes. The RCMP is working with the Ontario Provincial Police and the Sûreté du Québec in supporting provincial strategies that tackle this challenge, and is also supporting other local and municipal police forces in their efforts. The RCMP plays a number of roles in helping to combat auto theft across the country. The RCMP works as the police of jurisdiction, and coming from New Brunswick I know this very well, in hundreds of communities as well. This means that it is responsible for investigating reports of crime, including auto theft. Under contract to provincial and municipal authorities, the RCMP members who work in these communities across the country do exceptional work. Second, the RCMP is responsible for federal policing. This is a core responsibility that is carried out in every province and territory across the country, and internationally as well. Under its federal policing mandate, the RCMP combats threats to Canada from transnational and organized criminal groups. These groups are increasingly benefiting from auto theft, and the RCMP is going after them in a very significant way. As part of these crucial efforts, the RCMP works with international and domestic partners to dismantle criminal groups and disrupt illegal markets, leveraging operational partnerships it has with small municipal police forces, larger regional police forces and, in the case of Ontario and Quebec, the important provincial police forces. Last, the RCMP is responsible for information sharing so that law enforcement officers across the country have the tools they need to go after criminals. Through the National Police Services, tools and databases essential for law enforcement agencies are available across the country to deter and investigate criminal activity, including automobile theft. For example, the RCMP hosts the Canadian Police Information Centre. This is a key national information sharing system, one that is used by police every minute of the day. The RCMP also heads the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada Central Bureau and supports the efforts to reduce the damage caused by organized crime by providing criminal intelligence products and services, including on auto theft. The bureau informs its partners, the government and other stakeholders about the criminal markets in Canada and helps those in charge of law enforcement to make decisions regarding the priorities for fighting organized crime. At the border, the Canadian Border Services Agency is working closely with domestic and international partners to ensure we are disrupting criminal activity, including the export of stolen vehicles as well. This includes working in partnership with local police, provincial police, responding to intelligence reports and intelligence sources that the CBSA receives from these police forces, to intercept and interrupt shipments that may contain stolen vehicles. I visited the Port of Montreal a couple of weeks ago to see first-hand the important work being done by the men and women who work for CBSA in this essential work to protect Canadians. Through a variety of partnerships, we are actively contributing to joint efforts in the areas hardest hit by auto theft. We will continue to work across party lines to ensure we stay on top of this growing problem in communities across Canada and, of course, to combat the damaging impact it is having on Canadians. We look forward to the discussions later this week and to the identification of concrete and effective actions that all governments can take to ensure that everything is being done and brought to bear to deal with what is understandably a source of concern to Canadians across the country, the rising level of automobile theft. In closing, auto theft is a complex problem with no simple or single solution. We must all work together to address this challenge. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues in the House of Commons throughout the day, as well as the comments we will all hear later this week. We will continue to do whatever it takes to protect Canadians and prevent these auto thefts that are causing so many headaches. I can assure my colleagues that I am very pleased to have the opportunity to discuss this important issue in the House of Commons today.

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Mr. Gérard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC)

Feb/6/24 10:58:42 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always interesting to listen to the minister's speeches. He is a well-known parliamentarian and well established here in the House, as well as in his riding and his province. Speaking of his province, New Brunswick, we know it is one of the places where, unfortunately, this auto theft scourge is the most glaring and devastating. We are talking about an increase of more than 120% in New Brunswick since this government was elected. Moncton has seen an increase in auto theft of over 190%. Let us come a bit closer to home, in the province of Quebec. The minister said that a few days ago he went to visit the people working at the port of Montreal. That is great. He was impressed by the quality of the work. We too have been there. The problem is that there is quite a shortage of workers. Could the minister tell us whether having five people work at the port of Montreal to analyze the content of the cargo is enough?

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Hon. Dominic LeBlanc

Feb/6/24 10:59:40 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, obviously, I commend my colleague for his parliamentary service in the House of Commons and previously in the Quebec National Assembly. I am fully aware of the statistics that my colleague gave about the number of cars stolen in my province of New Brunswick and in Moncton. I do not disagree at all with the numbers that my colleague provided. That is why we are working to get those numbers down, since they are obviously alarming. However, I do want to correct my colleague on something. I know that it has often been said that there are five border officers at the port of Montreal who are working to stop the export of stolen vehicles. That is not at all the case. As I said, I went there myself and I saw that there are a lot more than five assigned to that task. We are working with the Montreal city police and the Sûreté du Québec, and we will continue to deploy the personnel needed to do this work.

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Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Feb/6/24 11:00:55 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to know that my colleague has convened a national summit to take place later this week to address this important topic. Still, I would really like to know what the government, what the Minister of Public Safety did before that. Auto theft has always existed. However, since 2021 and 2022 it has skyrocketed. Police services themselves have created a special squad, an initiative led by the Montreal police service, or SPVM, with the Longueuil police service, the Sûreté du Québec and the RCMP. Did the government participate in these efforts? Did it fund these initiatives? What has it done in the past few years to combat this scourge? What does it want to see come out of its summit? I have a specific question. Last week, I heard on the radio that the chief of the SPVM was not invited to this summit. Let us keep in mind that Montreal is a major hub. Has the government rectified the situation?

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Hon. Dominic LeBlanc

Feb/6/24 11:01:52 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I believe that on Thursday my colleague will take part in the summit with us. I will be very happy to work with her. One of the things we did when we came to power was restore the jobs that were lost as a result of the major cuts inflicted by Mr. Harper’s previous government, for instance at the Canada Border Services Agency, where 1,000 jobs were eliminated. Half the jobs of officers who worked in criminal intelligence at border services were cut by the Conservative Government. That is why it is ironic that today the Conservatives are talking about investing in our law enforcement services. I spoke to Minister Bonnardel from Quebec, who will also be with us on Thursday, and I will continue to work with him. The chiefs of police in the major cities are of course invited on Thursday. I am eager to hear their suggestions. We are going to invest more in border services and the RCMP so that they can be the best partners possible.

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Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Feb/6/24 11:03:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the history of the culture and how we treat our workers at CBSA is terrible. The government has not improved it very much. In fact, there has been a constant problem with getting proper collective agreements on time. They are done just as the window of the agreement is done and they have to go back to negotiations. We are short thousands of workers; some during COVID and even before. On top of that, the government would not even give vaccinations to our frontline workers, despite them being on the front line every single day. I think it comes from a culture. I would like to offer the minister an opportunity to apologize. The member Derek Lee from Scarborough—Rouge River got up in this chamber and called our CBSA officers “wimps”. The Liberals have never apologized for that. I would like the minister to apologize for that or have we gotten past that point from the minister? Are they wimps or not?

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Hon. Dominic LeBlanc

Feb/6/24 11:03:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was not aware of that comment by our former colleague in this place. I can tell the member that my interactions with frontline CBSA officers have been extraordinarily positive. I have had an opportunity, with senior officials in Ottawa, to visit a number of CBSA facilities in the short time I have been Minister of Public Safety, including at the Port of Montreal as recently as a few weeks ago. They are men and women who dedicate themselves to doing difficult work to keep Canadians safe, and intercept the importation of drugs and guns that have done so much damage in our cities and right across the country. Obviously, they are turning their attention to the export of stolen vehicles because one of the best ways we can work with local and regional police is to also bring a choke point at the end, as 60% of the vehicles stolen are, in fact, exported from Canada.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Feb/6/24 11:05:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thought it was somewhat interesting. To the best of my knowledge, it was not until the minister actually announced that we were going to be having this automobile theft summit that the leader of the Conservative Party started to ask questions about the issue of auto theft in Canada. I know it has been a concern for the government for a while now and we are addressing it through the summit. There is a lot of emphasis on border controls and theft that leads to the export of vehicles, but there is also a lot of local joyriding around automobile theft. Can he provide the House a better sense of what they will be looking at during the summit?

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Hon. Dominic LeBlanc

Feb/6/24 11:05:52 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for the work he has done in his home province of Manitoba and the city of Winnipeg to collaborate with local law enforcement, police and border services to bring every attention to bear on what, as he noted in an earlier intervention, has been a problem there for a long time. The Canada Border Services Agency intercepted over 1,800 stolen vehicles in 2023 alone. Our government has invested to restore the more than thousand jobs that were cut from border services by the previous Conservative government. We have added 800 more officers above those who had been cut, whose jobs we restored, under that Conservative government. We will continue to invest in the RCMP and border services so they can partner with local and provincial police forces to really do what is necessary to reduce the number of vehicles stolen in a significant way. Concrete outcomes and action plans are are going to come from the meeting in a few days in Ottawa.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Feb/6/24 11:07:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as we are debating this issue that has hit so many Canadians and has been a source of real concern across the country, and mentioning who should get credit for raising it first, it occurs to me that the hon. minister might have a comment. It seems to me that where we began to see some traction on the issue was not from a political party, but the investigative journalism of the CBC in finding that these car rings were taking vehicles from driveways in Canada and putting them on container ships. That is where I first saw this. Therefore, I thank the CBSA agents and the police, but I also want to thank the CBC for shining the light on this.

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Hon. Dominic LeBlanc

Feb/6/24 11:07:58 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, obviously we share the view of my friend from Saanich—Gulf Islands on the importance of investigative journalism. It is a public broadcaster that is well financed and has the resources necessary to do the work in a democracy, which is essential for all of us. We saw that with programs such as Enquête, for example, Radio-Canada has done a really good job of drawing the attention of all Canadians to the problems associated with organized crime in Canada. I agree with my colleague on how important it is that Canadians understand the magnitude of the problem. Our job, of course, is to put all the essential resources and effort required into fighting organized crime.

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Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Feb/6/24 11:08:48 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-26 Bill C-20

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to have the opportunity to elaborate on this subject. As I was saying earlier, the Conservatives are finally paying attention. They now realize that this is an important topic and that it might be a good idea to add it to their arsenal of election slogans. As my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands was saying a little earlier, it is true that investigative journalism brought this problem to our attention a few months ago. There are also organizations that come to Ottawa to tell us about certain issues and raise awareness about them. Last April, I met with people from the Corporation des concessionnaires automobiles du Québec and the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association and they talked to me about this. It is wrong to say that they do not care about this phenomenon because they make money and they will be able to sell a car if a customer has theirs stolen, since they are reimbursed by the insurance company. It is not true that they do not care, because they are here in Ottawa to talk to us about it. They want the government to do something about this problem. I first became interested in the subject a few months ago. I met with global car manufacturers, who also spoke to me about it. In October, following the feature story aired in J.E, a television program on TVA, and after the numerous news reports of the Journal de Montréal’s investigations bureau, I announced that I was going to move a motion at the public safety and national security committee. I talked to my colleagues about it, because we often see members of certain parties come totally out of left field with a motion on any given subject, thinking everyone is going to accept it as is. It is important to discuss these things with colleagues first and to make them aware of the issue. That is how I came to talk to my Conservative colleagues about the auto theft problem. They seemed to be very interested. When I moved the motion, all parties voted in favour of it. Everyone had a story to tell, everyone had a friend or colleague who had their vehicle stolen. A Conservative colleague even told me that he personally had his car stolen. There was definitely a consensus that this was something we should look into as soon as possible. At the public safety and national security committee, we were looking at Bill C-20. That was significantly delayed by the Conservative Party for reasons we may or may not be aware of. The same thing is happening now with Bill C-26. The process has been delayed, and our committee agenda has us looking at the bill on auto theft after that. I do not really understand why the Conservatives are trying to delay this study as much as possible, when they are making it a priority today by talking about it. If it were that important to them, they would be working hard on the public safety and national security committee to finally get it done. With today’s motion, they may be trying to get material for pre-election, or even election, slogans, because we get the impression that the Conservative Party may already be on the campaign trail. The Bloc Québécois did not get the memo. The Conservatives’ new slogan is in today’s motion, which states, “after eight years of soft on crime policies, this Prime Minister has created the auto theft crisis”. Who knew? The Prime Minister himself created the auto theft crisis. He sure has broad shoulders. I am not saying this to defend him. It is true that the Liberals have not done much in recent years to combat this problem. However, that the Prime Minister single-handedly created the crisis is something we cannot take very seriously. I would even go so far as to say that the entire argument laid out in the Conservatives’ motion is completely disconnected from reality, despite the fact that the problem is all too real. If one looks at the problem with a minimum of seriousness, it is immediately clear that the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 caused significant disruptions in the logistics chain around the world. One of the most hard-hit sectors was the industry producing the semiconductors needed for all microprocessors. The microprocessor shortage led to a worldwide reduction in auto manufacturing, which made demand go up. This increased the cost of used vehicles. Crime gangs jumped on the opportunity and quickly specialized in car theft and shipment to other markets. This was already happening on a smaller scale, but the pandemic and the impact it had on supply chains accelerated the phenomenon. Because of its geographical location, Montreal became an auto theft hub. Why was that? Because Montreal is home to the largest port in eastern Canada that provides access to the rest of the world. Of course other ports are involved as well, such as those in Halifax and Vancouver. However, these ports have not been as affected as the port of Montreal. It is truly a gateway, a hub. As I was saying, the pandemic exacerbated the situation but, on top of that, new technological developments have made auto theft more appealing. For example, consider the increasingly frequent use of smart keys, which make it easier to steal vehicles. Several news reports have shown how thieves go about it. All they have to do is use a relay to amplify the signal of a smart key inside a house by standing next to the front door. With an accomplice, the thief can then open the car door and start the engine. They can also connect a computer to the onboard diagnostic port in the car, which enables them to use another key. All they have to do then is force open the door. It is child’s play for people who know what they are doing. In Montreal, as in the rest of the country, we have seen people using Denver boots or steering wheel locks to make it harder for thieves to steal their car. I say harder, because thieves have found other ways to remove these devices and leave with a car in no time at all. This phenomenon is truly becoming a scourge, especially in Quebec and in Montreal. Auto theft has increased over the years. According to Équité Association, roughly 70,000 vehicles were stolen in Canada in 2022. That is huge. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of thefts increased by 50%, or half, in Quebec, by nearly half in Ontario, or 48%, by 34% in Atlantic Canada, and by 18% in Alberta. 2022 was a record year for auto theft. The numbers are not yet known for 2023, but by all indications auto theft has increased yet again. The reported losses are in the billions of dollars for insurers, and we have seen premiums go up for ordinary people. Le Journal de Montréal reported that between 2012 and 2022, the average car insurance premium increased by 50% as well. This increase is in part tied to auto theft. Given these facts, one of the questions we need to ask ourselves is why there is this growing interest in auto theft. It must be said that auto theft is one of the easiest and least risky sources of revenue for gangs, which then use part of the proceeds to finance other criminal activities, such as gun trafficking and human trafficking. Those are the two reasons. It is easy and low-risk. I explained earlier why it is easy. One reason it is so low-risk is that sentences are so light. In an article in La Presse, Jacques Lamontagne, director of investigations for Quebec and the Atlantic region at Équité Association and a retired Montreal police force criminal investigator, explained—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Feb/6/24 11:16:42 a.m.
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There are a couple of conversations going on in the House and the sound levels are rising. I would just ask members, if they want to have those conversations, to maybe step outside. Otherwise, they may want to listen because they may want to ask questions of or make comments to the hon. member who is delivering a speech right now. The hon. member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia.

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