Costas Menegakis
Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, Ontario · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, last year we lost 5,630 Canadians to the opioid crisis. That is 15 lives lost every day. Emmy Liu, 14 years old, was one of the increasingly alarming number of young Canadians whose lives were stolen by the fentanyl traffickers.”
“Mr. Speaker, this bill seeks to criminalize anyone who dares to quote from scripture, a religious text, and that is crossing the line, as far as I am concerned and as far as a lot of Canadians are concerned. It is the difference between the state and religion, the state and faith.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister 's luxurious travel around the world has racked up a nearly $1-million catering bill. That is enough to feed a family for 55 years. While the Prime Minister eats five-star meals, Canadians are struggling.”
“Madam Speaker, the bill would basically strip away the right of a person to quote from their holy text. It would open the door to criminalizing people for uttering words that they are reading from their holy text.”
“Mr. Speaker, record-high youth unemployment in Canada is a direct result of the Liberal government's reckless immigration policies. By flooding the labour market with temporary foreign workers and residents, the current government has created a wage-suppressing crisis.”
“Now the Liberal government has launched an international campaign to recruit more foreign students to Canada who compete with Ethan and other young Canadians who are struggling to find work. The Liberal government should stop pandering to lobbyists and start putting Canadians first.”
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“This is not a serious government— An hon. member: Oh, oh! Costas Menegakis: Mr. Speaker, if government members were serious, they would be putting Canadians' interests first and would not be putting their political nonsense of partisan politics first.”
“Mr. Speaker, truly the only word that comes to mind is “incompetence”. We are now on the seventh Liberal immigration minister in the last 10 years. The bill is actually a copy of a previous bill. Members of the government just changed the title from Bill C-71 in the previous Parliament to Bill C-3 now. They introduced it in the month of May or June and then took the summer off. They all went home. They did not do any consultations across the country, with communities. They did not want to listen to people— An hon. member: Oh, oh! Costas Menegakis: Mr. Speaker, the Liberals think that a proper way of presenting the bill or defending it is by having the government whip sit in this space, thinking he is properly representing the people of Kingston and the Islands by heckling when someone is speaking in the House.”
“Mr. Speaker, that was a very well-thought-out question. Clearly the member has read the legislation and understands the impact it would have on our communities. It really does not make sense in any way, shape or form to think that someone who lived here 50 or 60 years ago could bestow citizenship in perpetuity to generation after generation simply because they were here 50 or 60 years ago, without having contributed at all, not one minute of their life, to any of our Canadian provinces or territories.”
“What the member opposite does not understand is the danger to the safety of our communities with this ridiculous legislation.”
“Mr. Speaker, the member probably has not read the bill in its entirety and probably does not understand the impact the bill would have. There are going to be people in the member's community who came into the country and have not had any background checks and do not speak the language but simply say their mother and father were here 30 years ago; they graduated from university and were able to obtain citizenship back then. They then moved out of the country. Consider a person who was born in another country and does not speak the language here. They have committed five or six crimes, but now that their country knows who they are and that they are a criminal, let them go to Canada where they would be welcomed into the country.”
“It cheapens Canadian citizenship. It requires yet more bureaucracy. It worsens the trust in our immigration system, which was once the envy of the world.”
“Already, what the Liberals' plan for international students and temporary foreign workers has done is overwhelm the system. Our own youth in Canada cannot find the entry-level jobs that were readily available to most of us in the House when we were their age. Now they want to bring in additional people without proper background checks and add to the system, putting an even bigger strain on housing, health care and jobs. There are people waiting in hospitals in the greater Toronto area and across the country five, six, seven or eight hours to get service. They cannot get that service. The Liberals say that we should never mind doing any background checks. They have found another stream that they want to add to the system. They will make it so easy for those people to just walk into the country. This bill will continue to add to the chaos.”
“I have spoken at some length in this chamber about how I adopted my own children internationally, so this issue touches close to home for me. We are making Canadian citizenship worth less by setting the bar so low for those obtaining citizenship by descent. It is unfair to every person who worked hard, learned one of our languages and had to pass all the necessary tests required. In closing, the Liberals' mess in immigration has worsened every crisis in our country: housing, health care and jobs. They brought in too many people too quickly, without any plan. Now communities are overwhelmed. Young people cannot find jobs and newcomers are struggling to find housing and food. Unemployment right now among youth in the greater Toronto area is hovering around 20%.”
“The Liberal government is acting irresponsibly by putting forward legislation that will make critical issues worse. Its working to overturn the common-sense amendments the Conservatives and the Bloc passed at committee is reckless. This bill undermines Canadian citizenship and what it means to be a Canadian. It will result in new citizens with very little, if any, connection to Canada. We will not know if they have a criminal background or if they uphold any Canadian values. In many cases, we will be unable to prove with certainty that applicants were in the country for the required period of time. Records may simply not exist, let alone the difficulty in trying to ascertain something from 30, 40 or 50 years ago. I support the section of this bill regarding international adoptions.”
“Unfortunately, the Liberals are saying that no background checks are required for this stream of people who have never lived here before and who come here at the ages of 30, 35 or 40. They could have done whatever they wanted in their country, but they are owed their citizenship so we should just give it to them. It does not make sense. That is not what Canadians want. Removing this requirement, which Canada has for other immigration pathways, is irresponsible, dangerous and certainly a lot less safe. We deserve better. Canadians deserve better. We are seeing high crime in our communities, where violent attacks are taking place in once-quiet and once-safe neighbourhoods. Not requiring background checks for new citizens puts Canadians at risk and will only worsen the crime seen in our communities.”
“If the minister believes English and French are part of Canadian values, why is the Liberal government not actively looking to celebrate and promote them within the bill, which the very same minister brought forth to Parliament? Worse still, the bill does not require mandatory criminal background checks, meaning citizenship could be given without a full security screening. The importance of background checks cannot be understated. Canadians expect that the people we welcome into the country are law-abiding citizens like them. They expect that the people who are walking in the streets and who are at the community centres and the malls, around the schools and everywhere else are law-abiding citizens. A background check would correct that issue. It would address that very issue.”
“How can they integrate and actively participate in Canadian society if they are unable to communicate or speak one of our official languages? Our citizenship laws need to help immigrants become integrated into Canada, not push them further away. Language is part of our national identity and it is a bond we all share. The ability to communicate with each other cannot be understated. (1305) I am a bit confused by the Liberals voting against this amendment because, when the Liberal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship was asked at the citizenship committee what she believed Canadian values are, she stumbled, mumbled and then admitted that official languages are part of our Canadian values.”
“Just to clarify so there is no confusion, the Liberals want three years over the course of somebody's life. We are proposing three years over a five-year period. That is a reasonable change. It was supported by the Bloc and passed at committee, but we now read in today's news that the NDP has partnered with the Liberals to vote down this very important amendment. This will also make the massive process and backlogs that the Liberals have already created even worse, hurting genuine immigrants waiting for service. The second amendment passed at committee was to add a language component. I would argue that it is hard enough for new citizens to establish themselves and get ahead in Canada as it is when they speak a little of either of Canada's official languages, English or French.”
“They have not lived their lives here, ever, but would be automatically bestowed citizenship without the checks and balances that would be inherent in going through the normal immigration streams. Conservatives proposed that new citizens be required to live in Canada at least three consecutive years out of five years to have the provisions in the bill apply to their descendants. Given that the Liberal government has shamefully dropped the ball repeatedly on conducting thorough criminal background checks for immigrants, providing proof of three years of residency within the five-year period over the entirety of somebody's life would cause huge administrative problems and carry a high risk of fraud. How is an immigration officer supposed to verify three years of physical presence using records that could be decades old or may not exist?”
“Liberals want this substantial connection to be three years over the course of someone's life. The first amendment passed at committee was to harmonize the residence requirements for someone obtaining citizenship through naturalization with citizenship by descent. It really does not make sense to my constituents and, I believe, to Canadians across this great country to bestow citizenship on someone whose parents lived here 30 years ago for a three-year period of time. Now, they have not lived a day in the country, know nothing about the country and potentially do not speak the language. They and their parents have not contributed to the economy of this country.”
“I would like to thank our Bloc colleagues, who worked with us to get these amendments through the committee. The Liberals will say that they have to pass this legislation because a lower court ruling said that the first-generation limit of citizenship by descent could go on indefinitely. What they failed to mention is this: Not only did they not appeal the court ruling, but they have the control as to how it is implemented through legislation they put forward. The previous Conservative government put in place a rule that said that if somebody was going to pass down their citizenship to a child born abroad, they could only do it for one generation, and that somebody who obtains citizenship by descent had to have a substantial connection to Canada.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to stand once again in this chamber to speak to the legislation before us. I was disappointed to hear that our Liberal colleagues are working to overturn the common-sense amendments that the Conservatives and the Bloc passed at committee in our deliberations on Bill C-3 . It is not surprising that they are getting help from their traditional coalition partner, the NDP. The Liberals have turned our immigration system into a nightmare. Now, they want to pass even more legislation that will not fix the issues they have created but will continue to add to this huge mess. They want to potentially add thousands of new citizens without the necessary housing, health care or jobs to support them. At committee, Conservatives put forward multiple amendments to make this lousy bill into a slightly less lousy bill.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am perplexed at how tone-deaf the Liberals seem to be on the question of why they would be so supportive of not having criminal background checks on people coming into our country. No matter what stream of the immigration system people come here through, why would the Liberals support that? My question to the member opposite is simple. Are people in his community satisfied? Would they be happy if people move into his area, the street he lives on and the surrounding area, and they do not know whether the people walking the streets have perpetrated crimes in the country they came from?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the government has two very similar bills on the Order Paper right now: Bill C-2 and Bill C-12 . The second bill is missing a few things that the first bill has, but the government has still retained the first bill on the Order Paper. We asked the Liberals this question this morning, over and over again, to get an understanding of why they would have both of these bills, which are essentially doing the same thing, on the Order Paper. The member, by the way, gave an outstanding speech. I wonder if he could shed some light on why he thinks the Liberals have both of these live bills right now on the floor of the House.”
“Mr. Speaker, I was born and raised in Quebec. I am proud to say that I was born in the great city of Montreal. My response to the hon. member's question is simply that the 200,000 asylum seekers, growing by tens of thousands under the Liberal government, have created this problem in Quebec. I agree with my colleague that it is not fair to Quebec. It is not fair to any province in Canada to have to deal with this monstrous problem that has been created by the incompetent Liberal government. Now, 10 years later, the Liberals are trying to magically bring in legislation as if they have finally found a solution. Had they listened to us 10 years ago, we would not have the problem we are facing today in Quebec, Ontario or any province across this country.”
“Mr. Speaker, I agree 100%. Legislation needs to be debated in this House and amendments should be taken seriously. The Liberal government has a record of ignoring amendments and ignoring good ideas when they come from other elected members in this House who happen to not be from its party. This is what the House is all about. This is the House of democracy. The voice of every Canadian is represented here by one of the members who have the opportunity to sit in these chairs. Absolutely, legislation needs to be discussed and debated here and made better for Canada and Canadians.”
“Mr. Speaker, of course the Liberals are going to try to deflect from the debate in the House. We are talking about Bill C-12 , which is a changeup from Bill C-2 . We are talking about people being murdered in the streets. My colleague may not have heard what I said, but let me tell her that there have been two murders in my community in the last 30 days. It is shameful that the government wants to politicize issues it should be focusing on: keeping these criminals off the streets, keeping illegal guns off our streets and keeping criminals in jail where they belong. Enough of this Liberal cover-up and continuing to support the Liberals' bail instead of jail policies. Every single Canadian across this country expects people who commit crimes in this country to spend time in prison.”
“There is very little enforcement of departures and very little tracking of individuals in the system, and the asylum claim backlog is mountainous. Furthermore, the reports of individuals with serious criminal convictions being let into the country under the government's watch represent a threat to public safety and raise questions about the thoroughness of all background checks being completed. In closing, the seventh immigration minister in 10 years has offered no solutions. This bill would continue to clog up our immigration system and push the problems down the road. Luckily, Conservatives will end this chaos, fix our once proud immigration system, add more CBSA officers, end and reform the temporary foreign worker program and build an immigration system that Canadians can be proud of once again.”
“Millions upon millions of immigrants arrived through all channels without the proper health care, housing or jobs to support them. The Liberals' bringing in millions of new immigrants with not enough jobs available means that youth unemployment is at a staggering high. The Liberals' bringing in millions of new immigrants without the necessary health care capacity means that costs go up and wait times get longer. The Liberals' bringing in millions of new immigrants without the proper housing drives up housing costs, making housing unaffordable. Both Canadians and immigrants suffer due to these policies. We cannot blame immigrants for the Liberals' failures. Functionally, our system has lost most, if not all, of its integrity.”
“How is this fair to Canadian taxpayers and the Canadian people? This is billions of dollars allocated away from other services and infrastructure. It is unacceptable that the Liberals, by their inaction and rhetoric, facilitated the flow of asylum seekers coming to Canada through other G7 countries. I would argue, as many people would, that the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany are safe, peaceful and democratic countries with functioning asylum systems. When individuals enter Canada through a G7 country, it makes a mockery of our system and undermines our commitment to processing genuine refugees efficiently. These are people who need help. Canada's once well-perceived, respected and functional immigration system has been ruined by 10 years of abysmal Liberal policy.”
“Back in the days of Prime Minister Harper, when I had the honour of serving as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of citizenship and immigration, our asylum system was well respected around the world and operated with swiftness, integrity and fairness. In 2014, there were fewer than 10,000 asylum claims pending. Today, there are hundreds of thousands, due to the Liberals' failed policies. Why has the government, for years, put asylum seekers, including many who make false claims, in hotels at taxpayers' expense? Canadians right across our country would love to hear the answer to that question. Why has the Liberal government, for years, given asylum seekers a more generous health care plan than the one Canadians receive? Numerous constituents in my riding would love the level of coverage given to asylum seekers.”
“When they get arrested by our hard-working law enforcement officers, under this bill, they would still be let out on bail, sometimes hours later, as we are told by police forces across the country. They would then go out and brutalize our communities over and over again. When criminals are convicted, Liberal hug-a-thug policies allow many of these criminals to serve their sentences from the comfort of their own home. Wow. What a big penalty. We need jail, not Liberal bail for violent offenders, and only Conservatives will bring safe streets back to our communities. This bill also touches upon immigration and, more specifically, our asylum system. Let me be clear. Over the last 10 years, the Liberal government has systematically dismantled our immigration system and obliterated our asylum system.”
“People who commit these crimes purchase guns from the back of a car, the back of a Honda, at the mall or in some aisle somewhere, for $600 or $700. The Liberals are not serious about resolving the issue, and in Richmond Hill, in the last 30 days, there were two murders in broad daylight, one with an illegal gun that came across the border, which the Liberal announcements every year in the early part of December have not been able to resolve and will continue not to resolve. Instead of taking real action and implementing real consequences for those smuggling guns at our borders, the Liberals want to waste millions of dollars buying back guns from highly vetted legal firearms owners. This would do nothing and has done nothing to reduce crime in our communities. (1055) Criminals are laughing at the Canadian government.”
“The Liberals have let thousands of guns flood across our border that are used to commit crimes in our communities. I think members of the Liberal government need to rethink the way they are trying to fool Canadians. Everything is not a political issue. The decisions we make in this House affect real people. In making the announcement the Liberals made on December 5, 2024, as they do every year the day before the anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre, to say they were banning firearms, they tried to capitalize on that anniversary for political gain. That does not resolve the problem, I say to my fellow colleagues across the aisle. Illegal guns are coming across the border. It is not law-abiding Canadian citizens, hunters or sport shooters who perpetrate these crimes. It is not people with licensed firearms who commit these crimes.”
“The Conservatives will always stand up for Canadians' individual freedoms and privacy. They are fundamental tenets of a democratic nation. This new bill continues with the same old Liberal soft-on-crime policies that are causing crime and chaos in our communities. Liberal bail is still very much alive and well for those who traffic guns across our border and terrorize our communities. There are still no mandatory prison times for fentanyl traffickers. Astonishingly, there are still no mandatory prison times for gangsters who use guns to commit crimes. In the last month alone in one of the municipalities in my riding, Richmond Hill, we saw two brutal executions in broad daylight on quiet residential streets, one of them with a firearm.”
“It would allow for warrantless access to personal information. It could compel electronic service providers to re-engineer their platforms to help CSIS and the police access information, and it would allow the government to supply financial institutions with Canadians' personal information, apparently in an attempt to resolve money laundering and terrorist financing. These are Canadians' hard-earned rights that the Liberal government seems to not want to respect. The Liberals tried to pass a power grab to access Canadians' personal information from service providers like banks and telecom companies without needing a warrant, and worse, they did not consult the Privacy Commissioner. It was only due to Conservative pressure that the Liberals backed down, it appears, with the introduction of Bill C-12 .”
“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand today to speak to Bill C-12 . I hope all colleagues in this chamber had an amazing Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the week in my riding, but I am back in Ottawa to continue the important work we do here on behalf of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. We are debating this bill today because this is the Liberals' second attempt in the same Parliament. Their first attempt would have allowed for a massive, sweeping violation of every law-abiding Canadian's individual freedom and privacy. In fact, that bill, which has not been withdrawn, as we found out from a Liberal member this morning, and is still on the Order Paper, would allow Canada Post to open any mail, including letters, without a warrant. It would ban cash payments and donations over $10,000.”
“Mr. Speaker, that was a very thorough and informed speech. I have a question. We have a Liberal government that has been in power in this chamber and governing the country for the past 10 years. It is now 10 years later, and the government is pretending, in my opinion, to be serious about border security. I wonder if the member feels that after the government's first attempt with Bill C-2 , Bill C-12 shows that the government is finally taking this seriously and is looking at improving security for our country, especially with the illegal guns coming across the border.”
“Only Conservatives will repeal the disastrous Liberal soft-on-crime policies and laws and bring safer streets back to our communities.”
“Mr. Speaker, Liberal hug-a-thug policies have created crime and chaos in our communities. After 10 years of reckless Liberal laws, there are 29% more homicides, 76% more sexual assaults and 330% more incidents of extortion. Canadians deserve to feel safe in their parks, streets and own homes. After years of Liberal catch-and-release policies, they do not. Countless Canadians are victimized every day in violent attacks, home invasions and carjackings. In the last two weeks in Richmond Hill, two brutal executions took place in broad daylight in once quiet and safe neighbourhoods. It should not be this way. Earlier this week, the Liberals had an opportunity to vote with Conservatives to scrap Liberal bail, but they did not. We need jail, not Liberal bail.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government passed legislation allowing criminals convicted of sexual assault, including date rape, to serve their sentence under house arrest. Now the Liberals want Canadians to trust them with this new legislation. How can the Liberals be trusted to enact justice reforms to protect members of the Canadian Armed Forces against sexual misconduct, given their record of allowing sexual predators to serve their sentences at home?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to negotiate a win with President Trump and get a deal by July 21. Three months later, there is still no deal. He promised elbows up and then he caved on countertariffs and more, getting nothing in return but higher U.S. tariffs. He promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7 but delivered the fastest-shrinking G7 economy, with the second-highest unemployment rate. For the 86,000 workers who have lost their jobs since he took office, time is up. Will the Prime Minister keep his promise and negotiate an end to all U.S. tariffs today?”
“Mr. Speaker, peculiarly, this bill the Liberals have put together addresses things that are already covered by the Criminal Code of Canada. There are already laws that provide protection against and speak to things like the swastika and others. Could the member elaborate a bit more on why he thinks those things, already covered by law in Canada, are being virtue-signalled by the Liberals in debate here in the House?”
“Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of Liberal chaos, the housing market is a mess. Prices are still too high for buyers. Sellers cannot sell, and builders cannot build. The Prime Minister promised change, but it is just another bait and switch. Housing starts have crashed. Preconstruction sales in the GTA have plunged to levels not seen since the global financial crisis. Young people are still unable to afford a home in which to live. The Prime Minister's answer is more of the same, another costly housing bureaucracy. When will the Prime Minister stop building bureaucracy and start building homes?”
“Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question and the point my learned colleague has made. Certainly, it is not part of the legislation. The warrant requirement is not there. I happen to believe, as many Canadians believe, that we should not leave the opening of our mail to the discretion of the mailman who has the piece before him.”
“Madam Speaker, I was here 10 years ago. I was part of the Conservative government. We had an immigration system that was the envy of the world. We had an immigration system that worked. It responded to newcomers coming to the country. It provided the best possibility for positive outcomes for them and their families, while at the same time contributing to the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, the Liberal government decided to forego a lot of the strategies, policies and controls we had in place, such as the vetting of new people coming to the country. It relaxed them. That has created the tremendous amount of problems we are seeing with crime in our communities, including the crime in the community the hon. member who asked the question is from.”
“Madam Speaker, I am inclined to believe the Liberals are not going to do anything they said they would do because the Prime Minister has been there for the last six months. In that six months, he has made a bunch of promises, none of which have been fulfilled. It was the Prime Minister and the Liberals who decided to prorogue Parliament, to not come back for the summer and to not allow committees to work. In many cases, the committees are not even working this week, the first week back. I do not trust what they say.”
“Over the last 10 years, the Liberal government has broken our once proud immigration system and turned it into something very hollow. Thousands of immigrants entering into an already overburdened system has resulted in the worsening of housing, jobs and so forth. As I wind down, though I have lots more I could say, I will say this: Only Conservatives will protect Canadians' freedoms and fight for a tough-on-crime approach, so they can live in their homes, feel safe, walk in their communities, take their children to school, go to a theatre and enjoy a peaceful, safe life.”
“Conservatives support adding thousands of border agents, extending CBSA powers along the entire border, and installing border surveillance towers. We also support installing high-powered scanners at land crossings and shipping ports to spot drugs, guns and stolen cars. Most importantly, we will always support the hard-working men and women on the front lines. They are doing their very best with the limited resources they are given. They play a critical role in keeping Canadians safe by working to stop the flow of drugs and guns into our country, and for that, we should sincerely be very gracious and thankful. Conservatives also support the government tracking departures, so government officials would know which deportees are in Canada illegally.”
“It is not surprising that this tired Liberal government is bringing in a bill called the strong borders act. What is surprising is that the Liberals have been in power for 10 years and they have now decided, 10 years later, that we should have stronger borders and to put it in a bill. We would think that this would have been a priority from day one, but now, somehow, they want us to believe that the sweeping powers in this new bill are going to fix the problem and that we should listen to them because they know what needs to be done. In fact, a lot of the things in the bill that are supportable are things that we, as Conservatives, have been talking about in the House every day over the past 10 years, to ears on the other side of the House that have not been listening, in the tired Liberal government.”
“The bill has a low threshold to compel providers to provide subscriber information, account details and, in many instances, the time-stamp, location of service and other information that is normally considered private. Bill C-2 would give the minister and/or cabinet new powers to act unilaterally, without parliamentary or judicial oversight, based just on suspicion. Nebulous criteria and vagueness leave room for interpretation. They leave room for arbitrary decisions and possible discriminatory decision-making. We have checks and balances in our democracy. This bill would take away a lot of those checks and balances. Conservatives have always fought for practical policies that would secure our borders and bring back safety to our communities while upholding Canadian rights.”
“Some of them do not have Internet to transact their business online. Cash is very important. This bill would limit the use of cash. The bill raises serious concerns about privacy, surveillance and civil liberties. I would argue, as would many Canadians, that judicial and parliamentary oversight are fundamental principles of our democracy. They need to be there. We cannot give arbitrary powers without having the proper oversight to ensure that there is fairness in the system. The bill would expand lawful access powers, allowing police, security agencies and others to demand information from various service providers, including hotels, banks, doctors and more, to release private information without judicial authorization. That is a direct infringement on the privacy of Canadians.”
“It would fail to eliminate house arrest for some of the most serious offences, allowing those who brutalize our communities to serve their sentences from the comfort of their own homes. I am deeply concerned that this bill does not go far enough to fight crime and bring safety back to our communities. (1045) The bill would allow for new powers, such as opening mail, without oversight, based just on suspicion. It would compel Internet companies to hand over private information, allow for warrantless searches and eliminate the use of cash. That does not make sense. Cash has been legal tender in Canada since the inception of cash in this country. As we heard from the previous speaker, many communities, such as people in the north, seniors and so forth, do not have a credit card system.”
“They get caught one day, and police services across the country are telling us that they are frustrated because they are then released the next day. The minister, like the Liberal government, is once again out of touch with the everyday struggles facing my constituents and, indeed, all Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Bill C-2 fails to bring bail reform that would end catch-and-release policies. It fails to implement mandatory prison sentences for fentanyl traffickers, who kill thousands. In fact, more people have died from opioid and fentanyl overdoses in this country than were killed in the Second World War, which is a staggering statistic. The bill fails to bring in new mandatory prison time for gangsters who commit crimes with guns and wreak havoc on our streets, which are rampant and everywhere.”
“Upon his reaction to protect his little girl, he was shot dead in front of his family, leaving the children to grow up without their father. In Niagara, and this is very sickening, Daniel Senecal was charged with breaking and entering, aggravated assault and sexual interference of a three-year-old girl. The child suffered serious injuries and had to be rushed to an out-of-region hospital for advanced care. Senecal also requested to be transferred to a women's prison. The justice minister tweeted, just a few weeks ago, “This isn’t the Wild West.” My constituents have told me that they feel it is far worse than the Wild West. It certainly feels like it is because these criminals are free to reoffend at will.”