Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2025-09-25 18:15:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Andrew Lawton (Elgin\u2014St. Thomas\u2014London South, CPC)",
        "fr": "Andrew Lawton (Elgin\u2014St. Thomas\u2014London-Sud, PCC)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"8882851\" data-originallang=\"en\">Madam Speaker, I had the opportunity to rise in this chamber not long ago and ask the <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">Minister of Public Safety</a> about the scourge of crime on streets in my own community back home and across the country. So much of this problem of rampant criminality is a direct consequence of Liberal government catch-and-release bail policies. These policies put repeat, often violent, offenders back on the streets, sometimes hours after they were arrested and charged and then released.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882852\" data-originallang=\"en\">Police officers have been incredibly frustrated by this. We have been calling for action, as have provinces, municipalities, police agencies, victims' rights groups and businesses. Everyone has been calling for the government to act. The government has continued to allude to some sort of bail reform the members say is coming, but they have been shockingly scant on any of the details of what that bail reform will entail and, more importantly, whether it will involve repealing the principle of restraint. That is the section of the Criminal Code the Liberal bail law, Bill <a data-HoCid=\"9745407\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-75/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts\">C-75</a>, put in place compelling judges to release offenders under the least onerous conditions and at the earliest possible opportunity.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882853\" data-originallang=\"en\">For all the systematic issues that we have been flagging as a party, that Canadians have been flagging, such as violent offenders being released and people being arrested for serious offences while out on bail, the case has been made. We can draw a direct line between this and the principle of restraint in Bill <a data-HoCid=\"9745407\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-75/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts\">C-75</a>. This is important because I asked the <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">Minister of Public Safety</a> about it, using an example from St. Thomas, Ontario, of a repeat offender, a homeless man, who was released on bail with the condition that he be home by 10 p.m., despite not having a home. This is an impossible bail condition that the police have no ability to enforce.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882854\" data-originallang=\"en\">That matters because the <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">public safety minister</a>'s representative, the <a data-HoCid=\"318708\" href=\"/politicians/ruby-sahota/\" title=\"Ruby Sahota\">Secretary of State for Combatting Crime</a>, had the audacity to say that the government is \u201ctough on crime\u201d. She said that with a straight face, that the government is tough on crime, the government that has been the only stakeholder in the country not to acknowledge the bail crisis. When we have NDP leaders, Conservative leaders, provincial Liberal leaders who have broken ranks with their feckless, easy-on-crime and easy-on-criminals, hug-a-thug federal counterparts across the aisle here, they have all been in agreement that this is not a tough-on-crime government. This is instead a government that is tough on victims, a government that puts the rights of offenders above the rights of victims.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882855\" data-originallang=\"en\">We get a strong sense of what the government has prioritized, despite claiming some bail legislation is coming at some point, maybe after the budget. Who knows? This is a government that has found it high enough on its agenda to propose a ban on large cash transactions. It has decided that banning people from buying a used car worth more than $10,000 is more important than bail reform. It has decided that confiscating firearms from law-abiding gun owners is more important than bail. It has announced it is going full steam ahead on that despite the <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">public safety minister</a>, not knowing he was being recorded, actually defending our arguments about this program's uselessness.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882856\" data-originallang=\"en\">My question for the government is, how dare it claim to be tough on crime when it has been ignoring the pleas from virtually everyone else in the country to get serious about bail reform, to do it urgently, to do it imminently and, once and for all, to put the rights of victims first?</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"8882851\" data-originallang=\"en\">Madame la Pr\u00e9sidente, il n'y a pas si longtemps, j'ai eu l'occasion de prendre la parole \u00e0 la Chambre pour poser une question au <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">ministre de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 publique</a> \u00e0 propos du fl\u00e9au de la criminalit\u00e9 dans les rues de ma circonscription et de tout le pays. Ce probl\u00e8me de criminalit\u00e9 end\u00e9mique est en grande partie une cons\u00e9quence directe des politiques de remise en libert\u00e9 sous caution du gouvernement lib\u00e9ral. Ces politiques permettent le retour dans les rues de r\u00e9cidivistes souvent violents, parfois quelques heures \u00e0 peine apr\u00e8s leur arrestation et leur inculpation, puis leur mise en libert\u00e9.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882852\" data-originallang=\"en\">Cette situation contrarie \u00e9norm\u00e9ment les policiers. Nous r\u00e9clamons des mesures, tout comme les provinces, les municipalit\u00e9s, les services de police, les groupes de d\u00e9fense des droits des victimes et les entreprises. Tout le monde demande au gouvernement d'agir. Le gouvernement continue de faire allusion \u00e0 une sorte de r\u00e9forme de la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution que les d\u00e9put\u00e9s minist\u00e9riels nous annoncent pour bient\u00f4t. Toutefois, le gouvernement s'est montr\u00e9 terriblement avare de d\u00e9tails sur la nature de cette r\u00e9forme et, surtout, sur la question de savoir si elle mettra fin au principe de la retenue. Il s'agit de l'article que la loi lib\u00e9rale sur la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution, le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"9745407\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-75/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts\">C\u201175</a>, a ajout\u00e9 au Code criminel et qui oblige les juges \u00e0 remettre les d\u00e9linquants en libert\u00e9 aux conditions les moins s\u00e9v\u00e8res possible et \u00e0 la premi\u00e8re occasion.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882853\" data-originallang=\"en\">En ce qui concerne tous les probl\u00e8mes syst\u00e9miques que notre parti et les Canadiens ont soulev\u00e9s, tels que la lib\u00e9ration de d\u00e9linquants violents et l'arrestation de personnes pour des infractions graves alors qu'elles \u00e9taient en libert\u00e9 sous caution, la d\u00e9monstration a \u00e9t\u00e9 faite. On peut \u00e9tablir un lien direct entre ces situations et le principe de retenue \u00e9nonc\u00e9 dans le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"9745407\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-75/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts\">C\u201175</a>. C'est important, car j'ai interrog\u00e9 la <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">ministre de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 publique</a> \u00e0 ce sujet, en lui donnant l'exemple d'un itin\u00e9rant r\u00e9cidiviste de St. Thomas, en Ontario, qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 lib\u00e9r\u00e9 sous caution avec la condition de rentrer chez lui avant 22 heures, alors qu'il n'avait pas de domicile. C'est une condition de lib\u00e9ration sous caution impossible \u00e0 respecter, que la police n'a aucun moyen de faire respecter. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882854\" data-originallang=\"en\">Cela est important, car la repr\u00e9sentante du <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">ministre de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 publique</a>, la <a data-HoCid=\"318708\" href=\"/politicians/ruby-sahota/\" title=\"Ruby Sahota\">secr\u00e9taire d'\u00c9tat \u00e0 la Lutte contre la criminalit\u00e9</a>, a eu l'audace de dire que le gouvernement s\u00e9vit contre la criminalit\u00e9. Elle a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 sans sourciller que le gouvernement \u00ab s\u00e9vit contre la criminalit\u00e9 \u00bb, alors que le gouvernement est le seul acteur au pays \u00e0 ne pas reconna\u00eetre qu'une crise li\u00e9e \u00e0 la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution fait rage. Lorsque les chefs n\u00e9o-d\u00e9mocrates, les chefs conservateurs et les chefs lib\u00e9raux provinciaux se sont dissoci\u00e9s de la position de leurs homologues f\u00e9d\u00e9raux irresponsables, laxistes envers la criminalit\u00e9 et les criminels, ils ont tous convenu que le gouvernement actuel n'est pas un gouvernement qui s\u00e9vit contre la criminalit\u00e9. Il s'agit plut\u00f4t d'un gouvernement qui s\u00e9vit contre les victimes, un gouvernement qui place les droits des d\u00e9linquants au-dessus des droits des victimes.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882855\" data-originallang=\"en\">Nous avons une bonne id\u00e9e des priorit\u00e9s du gouvernement, m\u00eame s'il pr\u00e9tend qu'un projet de loi sur la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution sera pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 \u00e0 un moment donn\u00e9, peut-\u00eatre apr\u00e8s le budget. Qui sait? On parle ici d'un gouvernement selon lequel interdire les transactions de sommes importantes en esp\u00e8ces \u00e9tait une priorit\u00e9. Il a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 qu'interdire aux gens d'acheter une voiture d'occasion de plus de 10 000 dollars est plus important que r\u00e9former de la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution. Il a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 que confisquer les armes \u00e0 feu des propri\u00e9taires d'armes \u00e0 feu respectueux des lois est plus important que r\u00e9former la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution. Il a annonc\u00e9 qu'il allait de l'avant \u00e0 toute vapeur dans ce dossier, m\u00eame si le <a data-HoCid=\"318630\" href=\"/politicians/gary-anandasangaree/\" title=\"Gary Anandasangaree\">ministre de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 publique</a>, alors qu'il \u00e9tait enregistr\u00e9 \u00e0 son insu, s'est rang\u00e9 \u00e0 nos arguments selon lesquels ce programme est inutile.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8882856\" data-originallang=\"en\">Ma question pour le gouvernement est la suivante: comment ose-t-il pr\u00e9tendre s\u00e9vir contre la criminalit\u00e9 alors qu'il fait fi des appels lanc\u00e9s par pratiquement tout le monde l'exhortant \u00e0 s'attaquer s\u00e9rieusement et de fa\u00e7on urgente \u00e0 la r\u00e9forme de la mise en libert\u00e9 sous caution et, une fois pour toutes, \u00e0 accorder la priorit\u00e9 aux droits des victimes?</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2025/9/25/andrew-lawton-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/andrew-lawton/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4738/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "13144787",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Adjournment Proceedings",
        "fr": "Motion d'ajournement"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Public Safety",
        "fr": "La s\u00e9curit\u00e9 publique"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2025/9/25/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2025%2F9%2F25%2F"
    }
}