I want to thank my colleague for his comments this morning—along with the minister, the associate minister, and the Solicitor General.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of attending the automotive theft summit in Ottawa, and we learned a great deal. What we learned is that of the 80% of the stolen cars that are going overseas, that’s through organized crime; and that the money and the returns on that are fuelling other aspects of organized crime in our communities; and that it is also siloed in terms of a chain right from the theft of the automotive to getting it down to the port in Montreal and shipped out of there.

So my question to the member is about how these increased penalties are going to help to stop that food chain. We’re seeing not only vehicles being driven to Montreal, but if they are getting pursued, they go over 160 kilometres an hour. The police stop the pursuit. So there’s stunt driving involved, but there are also accidents with fatalities involved. How is this going to increase the safety of Ontarians?

Good morning. I want to thank the Attorney General and the Solicitor General for their remarks this morning and for giving me the opportunity to speak to the Enhancing Access to Justice Act as the parliamentary assistant to the Ministry of the Attorney General.

Speaker, our government believes in putting victims of crime first, protecting our children and ensuring that our neighbourhoods remain safe havens for all. Our Solicitor General spoke about the need to keep our communities safe and the rights of our individual citizens to expect that, and the hard work that the Solicitor General’s office is doing in enforcement and the Attorney General’s office is doing in making sure that we have the legislative tools for our courts to enforce those.

In order to do this, we are proposing comprehensive legislative updates that address the evolving challenges faced by victims, children and families across our great province. Our initiatives aim to strengthen the legal framework, ensuring justice, supports and protection for those who need it most.

First and foremost, we’re proposing significant updates to the Victims’ Bill of Rights, 1995, and its regulations. It is imperative that our legal system evolves to meet the changing landscapes of crime, methods of crime and the scope of crime. We seek to expand the list of crimes for which victims can seek redress for emotional distress and related bodily harm. This expansion will include such heinous and personal crimes as terrorism, vehicle theft and human trafficking. The expansion will also include hate-related crimes that are targeting our places of worship.

Speaker, Simcoe–Grey is a rapidly changing riding, with many new demographics moving into the beautiful towns of Collingwood, Alliston, Angus, Thornton, Thornbury and many more points in between. We are seeing the arrivals of different faiths and different belief systems.

I was down this past spring in Alliston, at an opening for a local mosque for our Muslim population, and this coming weekend, I will be attending a lighting of the menorah in the town of the Blue Mountains, which will be hosting its first synagogue in the coming months.

With geopolitical changes, recently, in the world, and particularly the Middle East, we’ve seen how tensions amongst some of our faiths have been exacerbated. We need methods to control that and to prevent those types of crime from proliferating.

We see many different faiths, cultures and religions are now being immersed in our communities, and we need to ensure the safety of places of worship and to prevent hate-related crimes. By doing so, we send a clear message that those who perpetuate such acts will be held accountable for the immeasurable pain they inflict on their victims.

We have talked before in this House about the importance of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and how section 1 provides for the balancing of individual rights. We have freedom of expression. We have freedom of religion. We need to protect those rights, and we need to protect them from the other end of the spectrum, which is hate-related crimes, distortion and misinformation.

Madam Speaker, our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society is unwavering. To that end, we are proposing a ban on the growth of recreational cannabis in homes that offer child care services. As the Attorney General mentioned, it is surprising that we need to legislate this. This is following the lead of the government in BC, which has successfully combatted this by providing similar prohibitions. This measure is essential to ensure that our children and youth in my riding and across the province of Ontario are shielded from the potential risks associated with the cultivation of cannabis in environments where their well-being is entrusted to others.

We have also seen, during this session of Parliament, the proliferation of human trafficking. And as part of the justice standing committee, I can say that we heard on an all-members’ bill that was brought before the House looking at expunging debts related to human trafficking—we heard, over the course of two days, very concerning and disturbing testimony from our stakeholders indicating that the age of recruitment for young girls into the sex trade has gone from 15 to 14 and is still trending downwards.

We need to make sure that we are protecting the most vulnerable in our communities from such heinous crimes as human trafficking. I can speak from experience, because in the riding of Simcoe–Grey, just prior to the pandemic, a human trafficking ring was broken up. The members of that ring were being housed in a resort in the town of the Blue Mountains, unbeknownst to the resort owner. Larry Law, the owner of Living Waters, turned around and took those victims—he hired them, and he housed them. I can say, with great pride, that those victims are now living as residents of Simcoe–Grey, working at Living Waters and other jobs that have been successfully integrated into our population. It is another reminder of the proximity and the closeness of this type of crime right under our nose. We need to make sure that we’re giving the victims of those crimes the ability to seek redress against their offenders, those oppressors, regardless of whether they’re convicted under the Criminal Code.

Madam Speaker, by taking these steps to increase avenues of redress for victims of crime, we aim to create a safer and healthier environment for our future generations and make sure that they have the full scope of remedies available to them.

Additionally, we recognize the sacrifices that are made by the hard-working individuals in our construction industry, and the Solicitor General spoke of this in his comments. These individuals go to work each day to build our economy, to build our infrastructure, and to build the much-needed housing that we need, as we move forward with our commitment to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031. We need to make sure that those individuals are protected and that any injury or death is properly investigated, to make sure that we are making provisions to prevent that type of needless accident moving forward. Nobody should go to work not knowing whether they’ll return home safely from their shift.

Through these amendments to the Coroners Act, we are determined to bring justice and closure to the families of construction workers who have tragically lost their lives on the job. This initiative is a testament to the ongoing commitment of this government to stand by those who build the foundations of our communities, ensuring they receive the recognition and support that they deserve.

Madam Speaker, one other way that we are expanding the redress for victims of crime is in the auto theft sector. We know that this is a crime that is growing in scope and magnitude across our province. Just last week at the Port of Montreal, through random screening, they found a shipping container bound for overseas that contained 20 automobiles stolen from Ontario. We know from our discussions with the insurance industry that these crimes are increasing in frequency. We know after the pandemic with the restriction on computer chip production that replacing stolen automobiles is becoming more difficult and they are becoming more in demand. So we are expanding that through the Victims’ Bill of Rights, 1995, to ensure that those who have had their automobile stolen can bring action against those who stole their cars for redress for that crime.

The current legislation represents a significant stride towards building safer communities, supporting victims of crime, holding offenders accountable and protecting the most vulnerable among us, our youth and our children.

This piece of legislation builds on our government’s advocacy and commitment to bail reform. We have seen—and the Attorney General mentioned it in his comments today—that through this government and over the past year, with the loss of life we’ve had of front-line officers in our law enforcement, that important steps are necessary to combat that small segment of our criminal population that will re-offend regardless of the circumstances.

We have broadened the scope for reverse onus provisions under the Criminal Code for those seeking bail to prove that they do not pose a threat, and we are moving forward through the creation of special bail teams to make sure that those that should remain behind bars pending trial will remain behind bars. This government is making significant investments in law enforcement, auto theft prevention and the digitization of court processes, and this is another important step along the way.

In conclusion, as members of the provincial Parliament, we have a duty to prioritize the safety and well-being of our constituents, and through these legislative proposals, we aim to create a society where justice is served, victims are empowered and our communities thrive. This legislation, if passed, will do just that, and it is part of this government’s commitment to putting in place the levers for our justice system, for our law enforcement officers to make sure that we build a future where everyone feels secure, protected and confident in the strength of our legal system.