Madam Speaker, freedom of expression is a special part of Canada's political and cultural tradition. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that everyone in our country has the following fundamental freedoms: freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. When any government seeks to limit or constrain these freedoms, it requires a special trust between the people of the country and that government. Ideally, the people know that when a government seeks to limit their expression, that government has their best interests in mind and that any effort to limit freedom of expression would be done so fairly and justly.
Today, the Liberal government does not have that trust with many Canadians, and it is important that we understand why as we debate the merits of Bill C-9, in which the Liberal government is proposing new ways of limiting free expression in our dear country. A government that is deserving of trust would, of course, be one that is honest with the people of the country. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Bill C-9. Much of this legislation is duplicative of laws already on the books and does not adequately address the core reasons crime has increased.
The problem of crime primarily requires the federal government to more earnestly enforce the laws we already have and support police officers to investigate crimes and lock up criminals. The Liberal government is, frankly, taking attention away from its very real enforcement problem as it pertains to criminal law and the justice system. Instead, it is distracting people with legislation and, in doing so, is not being straight up with the people of our country.
A government that is deserving of trust with legislation like Bill C-9 would be a government that treats all religious communities fairly, and that is not the case. In the rollout of Bill C-9, the Liberal government failed to mention anti-Christian bigotry in explaining how this legislation would address increases in hate in our country. Of course, anti-Christian bigotry has risen dramatically in recent years, as evidenced by over 100 churches being burned down or vandalized. In fact, the government's statements about Bill C-9 seem to go very far out of their way to avoid mentioning Christians and to avoid mentioning what has been happening to Christian communities across our country, despite mentioning other targeted communities.
This is not a surprise to me, and probably not to many in this chamber, as when the Liberal government had an opportunity last year to support Conservative legislation to increase the penalty for arson against churches, which was known as Bill C-411, the Liberal government did nothing. It did not step up to work with us. It did not even articulate support for our efforts. We may recall Bill C-411, introduced by my Conservative colleague from Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, introduced mandatory minimum sentences for criminals attacking churches. It was a fantastic idea and an important part of any meaningful response to what has happened to churches across our country.
Despite claims by the current Liberal government that it is something new and different from what we contended with last year, it continues to take the exact same approach to how it deals with Christians in our country, continuing to refuse to step up and take any action. Ultimately, it is important for Christians and non-Christians across our beautiful nation to ask why the Liberals seem unwilling to address the attacks on churches in Bill C-9, Bill C-411 or any bill for that matter. If we are being very honest, I think the answer is that the Liberals like to use their power in government to pick winners and losers. They like to decide who deserves attention and protection, who deserves to have their dignity affirmed and who does not.
Liberals, frankly, do not see Christians as deserving of protection, and Bill C-9 is a very clear example of that, plain and simple, on paper. With that in mind, it is difficult to trust the Liberals to apply these new powers they seek to limit free expression in a way that is fair, just and the same for all Canadians. I anticipate Liberals saying that Bill C-9 is responding to the needs of religious communities by including language for the protection of Canadians who attend places of worship. Believe me, Madam Speaker: I would very much like to see more protections for Canadians who attend places of worship. In August, I submitted a motion to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to discuss precisely this issue.
However, my concern with Bill C-9 is that the Liberals are taking a very real issue, which is that Canadians who attend places of worship need more protections, and using that very real issue to justify the expansion of their government's power to define what constitutes acceptable speech. Liberals have demonstrated, over their last decade in power, an intolerance for Christians and other Canadians who may disagree with them on important social and cultural issues. For that reason, I worry that the government will use the new powers it seeks under Bill C-9 to make it even more difficult for people in our great country to freely practise their faith.
Importantly, it is not just Christians who have concerns about being excluded from Bill C-9; Hindus across our country do as well. I have personally heard from many Hindu Canadians in Bowmanville—Oshawa North and across Durham region, who have expressed concerns over how some of their religious symbols have been characterized in Bill C-9. There is concern for many in the Hindu community that the proposed legislation equates one of their sacred symbols with a symbol of hatred. They are not being treated fairly by the Liberal government either.
Finally, it is very important to note another reason many Canadians do not trust the Liberal government. Under the Liberals' watch, the justice system has become weak and ineffective at protecting our communities. To have a trusting relationship with the public, especially if it has the audacity to ask the public to allow it to limit their free expression even further, the Liberal government should prove that it is willing to listen to cries for help from police officers asking for important justice reforms. Many criminals, whether they are motivated by hate or something else, could be off the street right now if the core problems in the justice system were adequately addressed. Canada needs a justice system that will be tougher on criminals, and that means having real consequences for breaking the law and hurting our people.
I would like to share the words of Durham region's police chief, Peter Moreira, who offered a powerful statement on the topic of justice reform a couple of days ago. He said, “we must establish meaningful consequences that deter convicted individuals from reoffending. Offenders who endanger the public—whether through the use of weapons, threats or reckless driving—should be remanded into custody. Breaching bail conditions should disqualify individuals from future bail, especially when it's their third, fourth, or subsequent release. Bill C-75 began this dangerous trend of multiple releases.... We need justice reform that prioritizes the rights of law-abiding citizens over the 'rights' of repeat offenders.”
In conclusion, it is obvious to anyone paying attention why Canadians would be uncomfortable with the Liberal government asking for more power over our lives, and their time would be better spent trying to fix the justice system they have broken.
