44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 21, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I listened to my counterpart from the Bloc Québécois talk about managing the legislative calendar.
However, managing the parliamentary calendar depends on the good faith of all parties and their willingness to not systematically block bills, such as Bill C‑8, which helped us provide assistance to Canadians in this pandemic and inflationary environment.
I would also like to point out to my friends and colleagues in the Bloc Québécois that Quebeckers support additional measures to control firearms, handguns and assault weapons. The Minister of Public Safety is advocating for these measures, and I invite him to tell us again why we should hear from Quebeckers and Canadians on this issue.
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- Jun/21/22 11:02:49 a.m.
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Before recognizing the Minister of Public Safety, I would like to remind members that there are more than 20 minutes remaining for questions and comments. I ask members to wait their turn to ask their question or share their comments.
The hon. Minister of Public Safety.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely right. Strengthening our efforts in the context of the fight against gun violence is a priority for Quebec. That is why I am in constant contact with my Quebec counterparts, including Minister Guilbault, Mayor Plante in Montreal, and Mayor Marchand in Quebec City, who all support the bill.
Everyone understands that this is a step in the right direction. I want to work with the Bloc Québécois and with all the members to better protect our communities.
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Madam Speaker, I have been talking with law enforcement officials from across my riding about the bill, and they have some serious reservations. We know that when the minister enacted the Emergencies Act, he said that he had advice from law enforcement officials to enact it, but in the meantime we found out that was actually false.
I want to ask the minister whether he has received advice from law enforcement on whether the bill is actually practical, and if he has, whether he could share with the House who it is that he received this advice from.
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Madam Speaker, I am all too happy to answer my hon. colleague's question. Among other branches, of course we are in the midst of consulting with law enforcement at the federal level with the RCMP. However, we saw the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which represents the most senior levels and executive levels of law enforcement, say that Bill C-21 would be a step in the right direction toward better protecting our communities. Of course, that in no way diminishes the fact that we need to debate the bill and study the bill.
The problem with my hon. colleague's position is that her party has stood in the way of debate. It is her party that is standing in the way of the free speech that should be exercised in studying the bill.
We want to pass the bill so we can deal with gun violence and better protect our communities. I would hope that my colleague would embrace that effort.
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Madam Speaker, earlier my NDP colleague said that there is the Bloc Québécois and the “block everything” party, in other words, the Conservatives. What he forgot to say is that in politics the primary principle is to establish a balance of power. Since the marriage between the NDP and the Liberal Party that balance of power no longer exists.
That leads my colleague from Mirabel to believe that the New Democrats are spending so much time at the Liberals' feet that they are going to get oral thrush. It is quite dangerous.
On Bill C‑21 in particular, we have seen many proposals from the member for Rivière-du-Nord, and we know that the main problem is the illegal guns. We will not be able to discuss the matter, however, because of the closure motion.
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague's statement that we need to study the bill. The problem is that the Conservatives continue to use tactics to create delays and pick fights, in an attempt to shut down debate. That is not good.
I hope we can work with the Bloc Québécois and even the NDP. The NDP understands that, through compromise and dialogue, we can make progress in the House. There is a sharing of ideas. Even the Bloc Québécois understands that we need to share ideas. I am always looking for solutions to strengthen Bill C‑21. However, the Conservatives need to stop with the nonsense. When they act like this on something that is such an important concern, their actions only hurt Canadians.
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Madam Speaker, we saw this with Bill C-11: Conservatives blocking witnesses at committee, blocking the tabling of amendments, blocking systematically improvements that needed to come to Bill C-11. Fortunately, we were able to—
An hon. member: Oh, oh!
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- Jun/21/22 11:07:05 a.m.
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It is very disrespectful to be calling members names, and I would ask the member to apologize for doing so.
The hon. member for Peace River—Westlock.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to apologize for disrupting the House and calling the member names.
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Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, but, quite frankly, “sticks and stones”. We have seen the Conservatives' antics for the last six months and what they say does not bother me at all. What they do, though, does bother me, and this is what we saw at the committee level—
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- Jun/21/22 11:07:53 a.m.
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Sorry, we have a point of order.
The hon. member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.
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Madam Speaker, according to the rules, the number of questions is supposed to be according to the proportion of people in a given party and what they received in votes at election time, instead of just going party to party. Since there were more votes and more seats won by the Conservatives, we should be getting more questions rather than just merely going around in a circle.
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- Jun/21/22 11:08:19 a.m.
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It is up to the Speaker to decide who speaks, and I am being fair. Members will see that certainly when it comes to the government, because it is its motion, the Liberals are getting fewer questions.
Returning to the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.
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Madam Speaker, hopefully the Conservatives will not interrupt a third or fourth or fifth time. It just proves my point of how disruptive they have been. They have abandoned their voters and come to the House and they just cause chaos. That is what they seem to think their role is, and it is tragic. We saw that at committee, and now they are blocking a bill that needs to go to committee for improvements. There is no doubt that there needs to be work done and witnesses need to be heard from.
Why are Conservatives refusing to have the legislative process that allows for due consideration for witnesses, for amendments and for improvements on a bill?
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Madam Speaker, I do not know why. I wish Canadians could get into the heads of some of the tactics that we have seen here in this chamber. We embrace the idea of having a very vigorous debate about how to better protect our communities from gun violence, but, instead, we saw on the first day that was scheduled for Bill C-21 that Conservatives filibustered and we have seen similar tactics at committee.
As my hon. colleague the leader for the NDP in this chamber pointed out, it is not just on the matters related to public safety. It is on matters related to creating jobs, improving the economy, dealing with climate change and dealing with priorities related to Health Canada. I do want to take a moment to thank the New Democrats for their efforts at making this chamber work, which is what the vast majority of Canadians are entitled to expect from us, especially on matters related to public safety.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the citizens of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
The hon. minister has talked about the fact that we need to have resolute debate in this place, and here we have the antithesis of that, the cutting off of debate with the help of the government's coalition partners in the NDP. How does the minister reconcile the fact that Conservatives are more than prepared to address certain aspects of this bill and more than prepared to split the bill and put it forward on the areas we agree on? Constantly, we hear we cannot get things done because we are not agreeing on things. Here we are, prepared to agree, and it is the Liberals who are pushing that away. How does the minister reconcile that with his recent comments?
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member is saying, on the one hand, from his mouth to this chamber, that the Conservatives are prepared to work on certain elements of the bill and then, earlier this morning, we heard the House leader for the Conservative Party of Canada saying there is nothing in this bill that would protect Canadians. It is for that colleague to reconcile that logical inconsistency. Canadians expect better.
My hon. colleague, as a very accomplished, very intelligent individual member in this chamber, knows full well that the debate of Bill C-21 will continue at committee, where, of course, we embrace the exchange of ideas and potential improvements and amendments to the bill so we can better protect Canadians from the scourge of gun violence. I would urge the member to vote in support of this motion so that we can continue debate at committee.
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Madam Speaker, I am getting sick and tired of hearing the government call out the opposition for doing its job. The Liberal government has moved a series of closure motions in the past month and is now blaming the Conservatives and the Bloc for the lack of progress. The government cannot criticize the opposition for doing its job. It cannot criticize members on this side of the House for asking questions. The government keeps imposing closure because it cannot manage its own legislative agenda, even with the support of the NDP.
I listen to my NDP friends during question period, and I am not sure if they have noticed this, but no one listens to their questions anymore. No one is interested in what they have to say. They should give us their questions. Ever since they cozied up to the government, no one is interested in what they have to say. They criticize us for obstructing our work here, even though we are here to ask questions. That is what we have been doing since the beginning of this session.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's passion for the subject. On this side, we understand our responsibility, which is to protect all Canadians. That is exactly why we need to move forward with debate on this bill—to better protect Canadians across Canada, including Quebeckers. As a matter of fact, it was the Bloc that encouraged the government to take more action. We must take action. Debate on this bill is our opportunity to better protect all Canadians. That is our priority.
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