SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24

Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)

Apr/18/24 2:21:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our resolve to ensure communities are safe is strong. What we did over the past 18 months was that we enacted legislation that addresses the acute causes of crime. What we have done in the past 18 months was ensure that the bail reform system deals with violent, serious offenders. We had the support of law enforcement right around this country. The other thing that law enforcement has been talking to me and my colleague, the Minister of Public Safety, about is the acute need to address organized criminality in this country. The previous times legislation has been in this chamber, they voted against such legislative initiatives. They have one more opportunity, but they have already announced that they will not be supporting us getting tough with money laundering and organized criminality.

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Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24

Mr. Frank Caputo (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, CPC)

Apr/18/24 3:06:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, offenders like Bernardo and Magnotta are living better than many Canadians, with cable, a canteen and a beautiful gym. This is at a time when Canadians are having trouble when it comes to heating, eating and housing. This is breaking news. The correctional officers' union tells us that crime is thriving, not on the streets but in jail, with drones dropping drugs and serious weapons. When will the Liberal government realize that violent offenders should not have access to these things? Who is running corrections?

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Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC)

Apr/18/24 6:30:49 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise tonight on a very important issue. In November of last year, a 12-year-old child committed suicide in British Columbia, after being the victim of online sexual extortion. The Liberal government has known that this has been a growing problem during the entirety of its nearly nine-year mandate and has taken no action to address this issue. It has gotten worse, and more children have been victimized. It is not just children who are the victims of extortion, and it does not just happen online, but I want to specifically address the extortion of children in Canada, particularly sexual extortion. This is a federal problem. The gaps in the Criminal Code that allow these criminals to operate are in the federal jurisdiction. The RCMP, which is responsible for catching these organized criminals, is federal. The Prime Minister passed federal Bill C-5, which eliminated mandatory jail time for committing extortion with a firearm. On top of this, he brought into place very detrimental, very poor bail reform, with Bill C-75, which makes it easier for offenders to get back on our streets. Instead of reacting in a way that would address these gaps, the federal government has proposed a very large bureaucracy that is extrajudicial, that has no costing associated with it, that does not have a set timeline for coming into force and that would be subject to regulations that would not be built for years down the road. That is opposed to supporting common-sense measures, like establishing increased mandatory sentences for criminals convicted of extortion; bringing in five-year prison sentences for any criminal convicted of extortion who is acting on behalf of gangs, and there could be modifiers for cases of children; also restoring mandatory four-year prison sentences for the offence of extortion with a firearm; making arson an aggravating factor for the charge of extortion; and reversing the damage done by Bill C-75. There are other things the government could be doing as well. We know that the problem of bringing people to justice, for any crime in Canada, but certainly for serious criminal issues, has been a problem since the government took office because the government has not been appointing judges. Across the country, there is a lack of judges. That lack of the ability of the government to appoint judges, coupled with Jordan's principle, has created this system where essentially the criminals act without any sort of deterrent. I am just wondering why the government has chosen this “kick the can farther down the road” approach to dealing with child online sexual extortion, as opposed to closing loopholes in the Criminal Code and ensuring that there are adequate resources and tools for law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to bring criminals to justice.

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