James Bezan
Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, Manitoba · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals themselves are warning that public investment in ag research and development has fallen by 15%. Private sector R and D outsourced to universities is down 77%. The number of firms conducting research in Canada has dropped by 30%.”
“Mr. Speaker, let us separate the fiction and actually have some reality here. Most of our troops are not seeing a bump in their paycheque because the Liberals continue to claw it back at every opportunity. Rents are up by more than 5% for military housing. Housing support is down in more than 10 of the major housing posting locations.”
“Mr. Speaker, everything the Liberals say about our military is just an illusion. They promised our troops raises, but they never materialized. Retention benefits for reserves are missing in action.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister has driven Canada into a full-scale recession. Our economy has been shrinking for three of the last four quarters. We are the only G20 country in an economic downturn. While the government tries to downplay it, families know something is wrong. They feel it every day at the checkout counter.”
“Mr. Speaker, I just want to poke holes in the justice minister's argument over the length of debate on Bill C-16 . We only debated this for two days at second reading, and then we let it go on division so we could get it to the justice committee for study.”
“Madam Speaker, although we are legislators, it is our responsibility as members of Parliament to carry out our fiduciary duties and responsibilities to the taxpayers of Canada and to properly vet all of the legislation and spending of the government. This bill opens up a huge abyss of extra spending.”
The complete record
Every one of 360 lines we hold for James Bezan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 8.
“We have to stop that if we believe in the Charter of Rights, in freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and if we believe in the “supremacy of God and the rule of law”. I will read from the book of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I want to ask my colleague for Portage—Lisgar, who eloquently laid out all the dangers around what the Liberals are doing in their amendments to Bill C-9 , is this actually more censorship and an attack on our freedom of religion?”
“Mr. Speaker, this is my first opportunity to actually get up to speak to Bill C-9 , and here we have a closure motion to censor debate on Bill C-9, which is now going to be used to censor free speech and freedom of expression, as well as freedom of religion by actually outlawing some of our sacred texts in the Bible. When I look at the charter, it leads off with, “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law”, and in clause 2, it says: Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression We are talking about actually now making parts of the Bible hate speech. That is what the Liberals have inserted into Bill C-9 .”
“Even under Justin Trudeau, we had a vote on the Iraq and Syria war in 2016. Will the minister guarantee that there will be a vote before we send any Canadian Armed Forces into the region to assist our allies? Will he also address the issue of whether the 244 troops currently in the region, in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt and the Golan Heights, are safe, armed and able to protect themselves or just sheltering in place?”
“Mr. Chair, in the last exchange, the minister said that they are not considering any participation from the standpoint of sending military to the region. At the same time, the Prime Minister said in answer to a question last week, “One can never categorically rule out participation”. As we know, the chief of the defence staff has also said that they are looking at what they could do. Historically, we have brought motions to the House and voted on whether there will be any deployment of the Canadian Armed Forces. Those forces could be used in supporting those already in the region or to support the Gulf states or other allies in the war against the Iranian regime, but we had votes in the House for Afghanistan in 2006 and 2008, for Libya in 2011, and for Iraq and Syria and the war against ISIS.”
“We know that Iran is a major supporter of Russia in what it has done in invading Ukraine with the Shahed drones and the lessons learned there. The minister talked about making sure there are consultations about ongoing conflicts. It has been part of this House to actually pronounce itself with a vote on whether we ever deploy troops. Can he guarantee that there will be a vote in this House if the government decides to deploy Canadian Armed Forces members and our kit in support of the operations against the Iranian regime?”
“Mr. Chair, I just want to add my voice to those of other Conservatives including the leader of the official opposition , who has said that our support for the people of Iran is clear and unwavering. They deserve to have a peaceful government, democratically elected, and that is why we support the removal of the terrorist regime in Iran. I have to reiterate that we can never forget all the illegal terrorist activities, the state-sponsored terrorism, throughout the region that the Iranian regime has conducted, not just in the last few years but over the last 47 years; and never forget that when they shot down Ukrainian Airlines flight PS752, that was the murdering of 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents.”
“Finally, it would amend the Broadcasting Act to revoke the licences of media outlets that are in countries that have been sanctioned by Canada or that the House and the Senate have recognized as committing genocide. In the bill, in the preamble, we are encouraging the government to continue to pursue the establishment of the international anti-corruption court at The Hague, along with our allies. If we can get at these corrupt foreign officials sooner, maybe they would not turn into warmongers like Vladimir Putin or people like Ayatollah Khomeini and the mullahs who are committing mass atrocities in Iran today and creating destabilizing impacts across the region. (1855) I ask everyone to support this bill. I am looking forward to our work at committee and to seeing the amendments that may be proposed.”
“It would ban, immediately, the immediate family members of sanctioned foreign nationals so that Canada could no longer be used as a safe haven for those corrupt foreign officials to hide their families and their wealth. It would require the government to table in Parliament the names of foreign nationals and any that are added to the sanction list. It would provide support to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at their sanctions bureau by requiring the RCMP and FINTRAC to report to the minister and give them more tools, allow parliamentary committees to hear from diaspora communities and suggest names and entities to be added to our sanctions regime, and establish timelines for the forfeiture of frozen assets.”
“Just to quickly recap what the bill does, Bill C-219 would require that the Minister of Foreign Affairs publish an annual report to advance what they are doing to advance human rights internationally, including the names and status of prisoners of conscience who are being held around the world. This would amend the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, the Sergei Magnitsky Law, which I had passed here in 2017, as well as the Special Economic Measures Act, changing it to the Sergei Magnitsky global sanctions act. The bill would define what transnational repression is, and it would sanction the foreign nationals who commit it here in Canada and elsewhere.”
“There are Russians living here who are pro-democracy advocates and who are getting stories from back home of the ongoing corruption, interference and abuse that is taking place. It is fitting that we are here on the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine, of Russia's unjust invasion. We know that, if we had this type of legislation in place some time ago, if we were sanctioning kleptocrats and corrupt foreign officials like Vladimir Putin when he was shaking down people like Bill Browder and ordering the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, maybe they would not have become the tyrants, despots and dictators who then want to wage war on their neighbours, just like the theocracy in Tehran, Putin in Russia or what we are seeing the Communist Chinese Party doing to Taiwan and Hong Kong. This is important.”
“This legislation will strengthen Canada's sanctions regime to better align with our allies so we can hold foreign states, foreign entities and individuals to account for their abuses of power and corruption around the world. It encompasses changes that have been advocated by the diaspora communities here in Canada for years. What we have heard from so many people today is that we have, for far too long, been hearing about things like foreign interference here in Canada and transnational repression. The people who are in communities here are still worried, whether they are from the Iranian community, the People's Republic of China, from Sudan and other places or from Ukraine even.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank everyone who has spoken to my bill, Bill C-219 , the Sergei Magnitsky international anti-corruption and human rights act. I have been listening carefully through the two hours of debate that we have had. First of all, I have to thank my seconder, the member for Northumberland—Clarke , for the work he did in the previous Parliament on his own piece of legislation, which was folded into this one. I also have to thank the member for Thornhill for their very kind words. I thank the members for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan , Calgary Heritage , Etobicoke—Lakeshore , Etobicoke Centre , Rivière-du-Nord , Winnipeg North , Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton and Lac-Saint-Jean , and of course, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs , who is also the member for Don Valley West, for their interventions.”
“He said, “victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” I can say that without victory, there will be no peace in Ukraine. Slava Ukraini .”
“As we look at other retiring fleets, such as our light armoured vehicles, armoured ambulances and other weapons systems, let us donate them instead of decommissioning them as we find new equipment for our military. Finally, Putin and his barbaric military must be held to account for their war crimes and crimes against humanity. They must be dragged in front of The Hague and the International Criminal Court. Taras Shevchenko, a poet laureate and an inspiration to multiple generations of Ukrainians, said 200 years ago, “If you fight, you will overcome”, which reminds me of Winston Churchill's “blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech of 1940 in the House of Commons.”
“As we ensure that the Canadian Armed Forces are ready to stand up to Moscow and its authoritarian allies, we need to make sure that we do more with what we already have. While we are rebuilding our fleets, and while we are replacing our equipment, our weapons and our kit, let us not waste a bunch of taxpayer money in Canada on decommissioning those stockpiles and sending them to the scrap heap. The Conservative leader , two years ago, asked the government to send Ukraine our stock of CRV7 rockets, which were about to be sent to the scrap heap, and 87,000 rockets, because of the ask from our leader, have now been sent to Ukraine. I thank the leader for making that request and helping Ukraine save lives, and I thank the government for listening.”
“Former prime minister Stephen Harper led the charge in kicking Putin out of the G8. We have to remain steadfast and not let anyone try to convince them to allow Russia back into the G7. Putin and Russia do not belong at the major tables in the world. We thank the government today for its announcement about Operation Unifier and Operation Reassurance, which were started under the Harper Conservatives. The continuation of those programs is paramount to the success of Ukraine and the defence of our NATO allies, but we also have to invest in Canada. We need to make sure that our Canadian Armed Forces get the equipment and build up the stockpiles that we need to defend ourselves here.”
“On Sunday, across Canada, there were rallies held in support of Ukraine, and at many of these rallies, we prayed for peace, but we know that Vladimir Putin does not want peace as long as he thinks he is winning. The minister talked about trust, and no one trusts Vladimir Putin. All wars end at the negotiating table, so we have to make sure that Ukraine has a strong hand. We have to make Ukraine strong. We can do more as Canadians and as a government. Conservatives are asking the government to continue to use all the sanction tools it has at its disposal to align with our allies to hold Putin, his kleptocrats, his oligarchs and the Russian military to account for all of their war crimes. We need to help defund Putin's war machine by displacing Russian oil and gas by selling Canada's ethical oil and LNG to Europe.”
“I thank the Government of Canada, on behalf of the Conservatives, for the efforts that it has done in supporting Ukraine through all of this, as well as the provincial and territorial governments for the programs they have offered to everyone who has sought refuge. (1530) To the Ukrainians who have come here and now call Canada home, I thank them for all their contributions. We know that, while they are here working in their jobs and participating in Canadian society, they are still worrying about their loved ones who were left behind. As the Conservative leader stated earlier today, we look forward to the day when they will once again raise their sons and daughters under a peaceful sky in a free and sovereign land.”
“For four years, we have been grateful for all the Canadians from coast to coast to coast who have stood up to help, the volunteers who are serving and who are getting money raised to help those who were left behind in Ukraine. I thank all of those unwavering Canadians. They have opened up their hearts, wallets, homes and businesses to all of the Ukrainians who have sought refuge here. I thank the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and all of the provincial branches, as well as all of the organizations they work with, for their tireless efforts to ensure that newcomers could receive settlement services, to find them employment, to be there as their conduit back to Ukraine and to coordinate so many fundraising activities for the efforts in Ukraine.”
“May the memories of these heroes be eternal. For four years, we have been inspired by the resilience and strength of the people of Ukraine. We have watched the entrepreneurs run their businesses within earshot of the front line. We have witnessed the ingenuity and innovation of everyone in Ukraine, how they have been able to keep in this fight for four years, how they are fighting and how they continue to evolve in this brutal war that the Kremlin thought it would win in less than a week. We have witnessed the courage and selflessness of members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They are fighting not only for Ukraine, but also for our shared values of democracy, freedom and human rights.”
“We have witnessed them use rape as a weapon, and we have seen them dig mass graves. Russia has been targeting civilian infrastructure. We recently witnessed different energy systems being knocked out, including all the electrical generation plants, water infrastructure and rail. They have also targeted things such as Kyiv's Okhmatdyt children's hospital and Odesa's Transfiguration Cathedral. I do not think any of us will ever forget the Mariupol theatre. Over 19,000 Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by Putin and his barbarians. They have been taken back to Russia, where they have been reprogrammed. Through this brutal war, over 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers are dead and over 600,000 soldiers have been wounded. Families have been torn apart as they have mourned their lost and cared for those who have been hurt. Vichna slava heroyam.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise on behalf of his Majesty's loyal opposition to speak on behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada. Conservatives have always stood with Ukraine, from Macdonald to Mulroney to Harper. Today, in solidarity with everyone in the House and across this country, we stand proudly with Ukraine. Four years ago, we watched Putin launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a war he said that he would win in three days. It has been a barbaric war and invasion that has been gut-wrenching to witness. It is unjust what Russia is doing in Ukraine. Russia is bringing destruction and bloodshed to Europe that we have not seen for generations. Russian soldiers have been killing innocent civilians. Over 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Edmonton for his great advocacy and work on this file for so many years and for standing up against extortion and all other crime. Can he point out even one situation where the Liberals have taken action? They like to make all sorts of claims, but is any one of those claims true?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are shamefully increasing rent and other charges for our soldiers, sailors and air crew. With one hand they promised a pay raise, but with the other they are clawing it back with rent hikes and a new post-living differential. Often our troops are ending up with less take-home pay than they made before. The defence committee recommended the rent increase be reversed, but the Minister of National Defence said no. When will the Liberals stop clawing back the hard-earned pay of our troops and reverse this unfair and unnecessary rent hike?”
“We are still in the hole and are never going to see those dollars recouped, because of their mismanagement and incompetence. The member has also been sitting quite quietly. He talks about interprovincial trade, but meanwhile, Manitoba makes the best whisky in the world, called Crown Royal. He has been completely silent as the Government of Ontario has threatened to pull Crown Royal off its shelves. If he is so adamant that Liberals stand up for interprovincial free trade, will he push back and force his government to stand in the way of the Province of Ontario's pulling Manitoba-made Crown Royal whisky off its shelves?”
“Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North is always up on his feet in the chamber. He speaks the most words in Parliament but never says anything. All we ever hear is Liberal propaganda and misinformation that really does undermine the seriousness of debate on the motions before us. During his entire speech, the member refused to recognize that over the 10 previous years of the Liberal government, the Liberals chased away $690 billion of actual investment that was going to go into natural resources and pipelines across this country. Because of their mandate, regulations, overreach and antidevelopment, all those dollars left. For the only pipeline they built, they had to go into the pockets of Canadian taxpayers to expand the western pipeline into Vancouver.”
“Mr. Speaker, every drop of Canada's iconic award-winning Crown Royal whisky is proudly made in Gimli, Manitoba, using Manitoba grains and pure Interlake water. Unfortunately, Manitoba employees and farmers are worried because the Government of Ontario is threatening to pull Crown Royal off the shelves of its liquor stores. The Prime Minister incorrectly claimed he has torn down interprovincial trade barriers, when, in fact, he has been sitting on the sidelines. His silence on Ontario's threat to Manitoba is deafening. Will the Liberals stand up for Canadian jobs and pass the Conservatives' Canadian sovereignty act to remove barriers to interprovincial free trade?”
“Madam Speaker, I would just say that this is not about trying to force other governments to change their regimes. This is about changing the behaviour of individuals. This is about going after those who ultimately go and rob from the people they are supposed to be serving and then commit atrocities against them. We want to make sure that they are held to account. If we do not do that, they will turn into even worse criminals, worse human rights abusers and, ultimately, monsters.”
“Madam Speaker, we are going to work with all members of this House to make sure we are not putting at risk anyone who is in a delicate situation. However, from what I am hearing from those who have been political prisoners, like Michael Kovrig and Vladimir Kara-Murza, it is the extra spotlight shined through the media and through statements made in this House and elsewhere that puts the governments holding these people falsely in a very uncomfortable position. I know there are sensitivities around some prisoners of conscience and some families. We definitely do not want in any way, shape or form to disrupt any negotiations and discussions taking place that will result in their safe release.”
“When we think about the big Antonov plane that has been sitting at the end of the Pearson runway for the last two years, this bill would make it so the minister has to act within 12 months to forfeit assets and make sure the financial benefits are given to the victims of the aggressor.”
“Madam Speaker, yes, I am always open to ways to make legislation stronger. I have already had a conversation with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on ways we can strengthen the bill. I am always open to anything we can do to make it better. There is one thing I never got to in my speech. My friend from Etobicoke Centre and I are very active with our Ukrainian communities. We want to make sure that any frozen assets, and I am thinking about Russian frozen assets, are forfeited in a reasonable amount of time for the benefit of Ukraine or any other victims, as with the shooting down of PS752 and the Iranian families that are still waiting for justice.”
“He told me that the only thing that works is public attention. If it wasn't for public attention, he says he would be dead in Siberia now. We kept on talking about Vladimir Kara-Murza. The House passed a unanimous motion, brought forward by my friend from Calgary, the current Deputy Speaker . He brought it forward to give honorary citizenship to Vladimir Kara-Murza. Because of that, he is free today, and it is the same for the two Michaels. When we can shine the spotlight on this type of corruption, these atrocities and human rights abuses, people go free and democracy, human rights and liberty are better served.”
“He went through a show trial that lasted for months on end, and he has been held in solitary confinement for over 1,700 days without access to his medications. His health is failing, and he is being held there because he is an advocate for democracy within Hong Kong. Of course, they will not have any part of that in Beijing or in Hong Kong through the executive council. Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is a supporter of this bill and has been here before, has been targeted and poisoned twice by Russian agents. He was left in a coma at one time, and then he was imprisoned recently, in 2022, because he criticized Putin and his war machine for invading Ukraine. He stood on the side of Ukraine, and he was arrested and held. Luckily, through a prisoner swap, he was able to get out and is now free again.”
“They are also driving around with police cars that are painted up just like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The one thing that we are going to require is for the minister to publish this report once a year on what they are doing on prisoners of conscience and on human rights activities. A prisoner of conscience is an individual who, in contravention of international human rights standards, has been detained or otherwise physically restricted solely because of their identity or their conscientiously held beliefs, including religious or political beliefs. Again, we have heard from many different diaspora communities and families of prisoners of conscience that this is happening. Jimmy Lai is another one we hear about. He is a media mogul; he is 77 years old.”
“The woman has a very sick mother, who is still in China, and she is being denied treatment because of her daughter's activities here in Canada in fighting for human rights and freedom. I was in Halifax at the International Security Forum this past weekend, and I was talking to the executive director of the World Uyghur Congress. She said that she started speaking out against the Chinese government and the Communist regime in Beijing, and her sister was arrested in 2018. She has had no contact with her for the entire seven years. We always have the Falun Gong practitioners and their activism; their families are also being targeted. We have the Hong Kong Watch patrons. We also know about the Iranian community here and how it is being targeted by agents of the theocracy in Tehran.”
“Joe, of course, has celebrity status within the Chinese and Hong Kong community, and as an advocate for Hong Kongers, has now been targeted by both the Hong Kong executive council and the regime in Beijing. We know the story of the Chinese police stations that were set up all across Canada to intimidate Chinese Canadians to ensure that they were not doing things China was not in favour of. We have a very small Uyghur community in Canada; I had a number of them in my office just last week. One young woman told me that she came to Canada and started to speak out against the genocide and atrocities being committed against the Uyghur people, such as forced labour camps, sterilization and reprogramming, which is the brainwashing of children, taking away their faith and their language.”
“Just on November 13, the Globe and Mail reported, “CSIS director warns that China and Russia continue to target Canada”. When I meet with diaspora communities, they have story after story of somebody who is tied to the government of their nation, or the embassies and consulates they have located across this country, out there intimidating the families. (1750) In the last election, Joe Tay, who was the Conservative candidate for the riding of Don Valley North, was told by the RCMP and by CSIS not to go out and door knock, because his life was in danger. This was based upon the intelligence they received from other individuals who were informing them about foreign agents working against him.”
“Immediately, those states would have all their media banned from the Canadian airwaves. The definition of transnational repression involves the tactics used by a foreign state to intimidate, harass, surveil or threaten individuals or groups located outside the state borders, or to physically harm such individuals or members of such groups, including elected officials, political dissidents, human rights defenders, exiled journalists, diaspora communities, civil society activists and refugees for the purpose of silencing dissent and stifling activism. We know the corrupt regimes of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, of Iran and of Russia are doing this in Canada right now. We hear these stories all the time.”
“It would require the RCMP and FINTRAC to report to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the making, administrating and enforcing of sanctions. I will get into that a little bit later. It would allow parliamentary committees to recommend names and entities to be sanctioned, and require the minister to report back to the House on that decision, or to the Senate if the committee and the Senate should undertake these studies. This is an opportunity for those in the diaspora communities across Canada to have direct input into the process of why people should be added to lists, or maybe why they should not. It would also amend the Broadcasting Act to immediately revoke licenses for media outlets that are operated by sanctioned entities, individuals or states that the House or the Senate has recognized as having committed a genocide.”
“We would define what transnational repression is and sanction foreign nationals who commit it in Canada and elsewhere. We would ban immediate family members of sanctioned foreign nationals so Canada cannot be used as a safe haven, or as a way to hide their children, their spouse, their concubines and their girlfriends, as we often see, and use them as a way to illegally move their illicit funds into Canada, as well as protect their families from the very people they are abusing back in their own countries. The bill would require the government to table in Parliament the names of foreign nationals and entities that are added to the sanctions list to ensure there is better transparency. We would have that tabled back here in the House so we can look at it as parliamentarians.”
“First, it would require the Minister of Foreign Affairs to publish an annual report on what the Government of Canada is doing to advance human rights internationally, as well as include the names and the status of prisoners of conscience around the world, especially Canadians who are being held in other countries. This is important, and we now have a definition of what a prisoner of conscience is. I will get into it later. We would also amend the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, the Sergei Magnitsky Law, and the Special Economic Measures Act, also known as SEMA, so they would better align with each other and the legislation would no longer be in conflict with each other, as well as align ourselves with what our allies are doing.”
“We need to have the international anti-corruption court with the purpose that, if we can arrest and prosecute those corrupt foreign officials, we would be not only reducing the crimes against citizens in those countries, but probably also decreasing the number of crimes against humanity. Before anyone ever becomes a genocidal maniac, they always start off as a corrupt foreign official. First, they get stuff and money out of the treasury and into their own pockets, and then they start abusing their citizens. That is when we see genocides happen, war crimes happen, human rights violated, and political prisoners and people of conscience thrown in jail. I will go through what this bill would do.”
“In 2017, the Sergei Magnitsky Law was adopted unanimously after it was brought forward by Senator Andreychuk in the Senate and me in the House. (1745) Using the name of Sergei Magnitsky in our sanctions regime delivers a strong political message against Putin's brutal dictatorship and his equally corrupt allies. In the bill's preamble, it asks the government to continue to engage with our friends around the world to establish the international anti-corruption court at The Hague. This is something that has been advocated for by Integrity Initiatives International. Canada, the Netherlands and Ecuador issued a statement back in November 2022 to work towards getting it established. I was on a call just last week, and that process continues.”
“Bill Browder, former Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Kara-Murza of the People's Freedom Party were here in Parliament to call on the government of the day to adopt Magnitsky sanctions to protect human rights activists in Russia and make sure that pro-democracy activists around the world were better protected, because we were going to name, shame, sanction and ban those individuals from allied nations. In 2012, the United States adopted the first Magnitsky legislation. It was followed by the European Parliament in 2013. As we all know, on February 27, 2015, Nemtsov was assassinated just outside the Kremlin, on the bridge right beside it. In March 2015, here in Canada, both the House and the Senate brought forward resolutions, which were passed unanimously, calling on the government to install Magnitsky sanctions.”
“None of the individuals who were responsible for the fraud, the false accusations and the criminal charges that were brought against him, and none of the individuals who enriched themselves from government coffers through the tax fraud they committed in the name of Bill Browder, were ever sanctioned and brought to justice. We cannot allow Canada or our allies to sit on the sidelines while gross human rights violators and corrupt foreign officials continue to commit atrocities, enrich themselves, abuse their citizens and ultimately walk away. Canada cannot be a safe haven for that. Parliament started engaging with this back in 2012.”
“Just so everybody knows who Sergei Magnitsky is, in case they have not been exposed to his story, a gentleman a lot of members might know, Bill Browder, wrote a book called Red Notice . He was American and was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. In 2008, it became evident that kleptocrats in the Kremlin were using his former company to commit tax evasion and tax fraud, so he hired a lawyer and accountant by the name of Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history. He was then arrested, detained, tortured and killed. It was a horrific thing that happened. He died in detention in a Russian prison on November 16, 2009.”
“In this Parliament, we have stuck them together and expanded on them to deal with corrupt foreign officials and kleptocrats from the many different theocracies and dictatorships. In these regimes, especially Communist regimes, people continue to use their powers and positions of influence to be kleptocrats, be corrupt and commit atrocities against their own people. This bill would make amendments to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also known as the Sergei Magnitsky Law, which Senator Raynell Andreychuk and I brought in back in 2017 and became law. The bill would also update the Special Economic Measures Act to rename it to the Sergei Magnitsky global sanctions act. It would also amend the Broadcasting Act.”
“As most of my colleagues who have been here for a while know, it sometimes takes a long time to get up in the draw and get a private member's bill into debate in the House and into committee so that maybe at the end of the day, it can be successfully adopted, become law and appear in the statutes of Canada. I am very proud to present my new private member's bill, Bill C-219 , the Sergei Magnitsky international anti-corruption and human rights act. I want to thank my seconder from Peterborough— Philip Lawrence: Northumberland—Clarke. James Bezan: Madam Speaker, I was close enough. I should have written that down. The hon. member brought forward a bill in the last Parliament, as I did.”
“moved that Bill C-219, An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), the Special Economic Measures Act and the Broadcasting Act , be read the second time and referred to a committee. Bill C-219. Second reading He said: Madam Speaker, I want to thank all members of this House for their understanding of the personal situation I am going through right now and for accommodating me tonight by moving up my time slot so we could start the debate on my private member's bill.”
“Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to see the clock at 6:07 p.m. to begin private members' hour.”