Bill C-12

Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act

An Act respecting certain measures relating to the security of Canada's borders and the integrity of the Canadian immigration system and respecting other related security measures

Part 1 amends the Customs Act to provide the Canada Border Services Agency with facilities free of charge for carrying out any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of that Act and other Acts of Parliament and to provide officers of that Agency with access at certain locations to goods destined for export. It also includes transitional provisions.
Part 2 amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to create a new temporary accelerated scheduling pathway that allows the Minister of Health to add precursor chemicals to Schedule V to that Act. It also makes related amendments to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (Police Enforcement) Regulations and the Precursor Control Regulations .
Part 3 amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Cannabis Act to confirm that the Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, make regulations exempting members of law enforcement from the application of any provision of the Criminal Code that creates drug-related inchoate offences when they are undertaking lawful investigations.
Part 4 amends the Oceans Act to provide that coast guard services include activities related to security and to authorize the responsible minister to collect, analyze and disclose information and intelligence.
Part 5 amends the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act to authorize the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to disclose, for certain purposes and subject to any regulations, personal information under the control of the Department within the Department and to certain other federal and provincial government entities.
It also amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to authorize the making of regulations relating to the disclosure of information collected for the purposes of that Act to federal departments and agencies.
Part 6 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to, among other things,
(a) eliminate the designated countries of origin regime;
(b) authorize the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to specify the information and documents that are required in support of a claim for refugee protection;
(c) authorize the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board to determine that claims for refugee protection that have not yet been referred to the Refugee Protection Division have been abandoned in certain circumstances;
(d) provide the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration with the power to determine that claims for refugee protection that have not yet been referred to the Refugee Protection Division have been withdrawn in certain circumstances;
(e) require the Refugee Protection Division and the Refugee Appeal Division to suspend certain proceedings respecting a claim for refugee protection if the claimant is not present in Canada;
(f) clarify that decisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board must be rendered, and reasons for those decisions must be given, in the manner specified by its Chairperson; and
(g) authorize regulations to be made setting out the circumstances in which the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration or the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness must designate, in relation to certain proceedings or applications, a representative for persons who are under 18 years of age or who are unable to appreciate the nature of the proceeding or application.
It also includes transitional provisions.
Part 7 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to, among other things,
(a) authorize the Governor in Council to make an order specifying that certain applications made under that Act are not to be accepted for processing, or that the processing of those applications is to be suspended or terminated, when the Governor in Council is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so;
(b) authorize the Governor in Council to make an order to cancel, suspend or vary certain documents issued under that Act, or to impose or vary conditions, when the Governor in Council is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so;
(c) for the application of an order referred to in paragraph (b), require a person to appear for an examination, answer questions truthfully and produce all relevant documents or evidence that an officer requires; and
(d) authorize the Governor in Council to make regulations prescribing circumstances in which a document issued under that Act can be cancelled, suspended or varied, and in which officers may terminate the processing of certain applications made under that Act.
Part 8 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to add two new grounds of ineligibility for claims for refugee protection as well as powers to make regulations respecting exceptions to those new grounds. It also includes a transitional provision respecting the retroactive application of those new grounds.
Part 9 amends the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to, among other things,
(a) increase the maximum administrative monetary penalties that may be imposed for certain violations and the maximum punishments that may be imposed for certain criminal offences under that Act;
(b) replace the existing optional compliance agreement regime with a new mandatory compliance agreement regime that, among other things,
(i) requires every person or entity that receives an administrative monetary penalty for a prescribed violation to enter into a compliance agreement with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (the Centre),
(ii) requires the Director of the Centre to make a compliance order if the person or entity refuses to enter into a compliance agreement or fails to comply with such an agreement, and
(iii) designates the contravention of a compliance order as a new violation under that Act;
(c) require persons or entities referred to in section 5 of that Act, other than those already required to register, to enroll with the Centre; and
(d) authorize the Centre to disclose certain information to the Commissioner of Canada Elections, subject to certain conditions.
It also makes consequential and related amendments to the Retail Payment Activities Act and the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations and includes transitional provisions.
Part 10 amends the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act to make the Director of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada a member of the committee established under subsection 18(1) of that Act. It also amends the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to enable the Director to exchange information with the other members of that committee.
Part 11 amends the Sex Offender Information Registration Act to, among other things,
(a) make certain changes to a sex offender’s reporting obligations, including the circumstances in which they are required to report, the information that must be provided and the time within which it is to be provided;
(b) provide that any of a sex offender’s physical characteristics that may assist in their identification may be recorded when they report to a registration centre;
(c) clarify what may constitute a reasonable excuse for a sex offender’s non-compliance with the requirement to give at least 14 days’ notice prior to a departure from their residence for seven or more consecutive days;
(d) authorize the Canada Border Services Agency to disclose certain information relating to a sex offender’s arrival in and departure from Canada to law enforcement agencies for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of that Act;
(e) authorize, in certain circumstances, the disclosure of information collected under that Act if there are reasonable grounds to believe that it will assist in the prevention or investigation of a crime of a sexual nature; and
(f) clarify that a person who discloses information under section 16 of that Act with the belief that they are acting in accordance with that section is not guilty of an offence under section 17 of that Act.
It also makes a related amendment to the Customs Act .

Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, quite some time ago, the member said “in conclusion”, and I would not want him to unintentionally mislead the House.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

That is not a point of order either.

I will let the chief government whip resume.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what we are seeing right now is an intentional direction, most likely from the whip's desk in the lobby for the Conservatives, to interrupt with points of order to try to silence the fact that I am bringing this up. They are so uncomfortable with this issue.

Let us talk about how uncomfortable they are. They will not even talk to reporters about it. Members should have seen the way they were fleeing down the hallways, running past reporters. The member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, who never misses an opportunity to say something, would not even stop to talk to the media about this. The member for Barrie South—Innisfil said, “Go, Blue Jays, go!” when he was asked a specific question about the RCMP. That is how worried they are about this issue.

It could all be resolved easily if the Leader of the Opposition would stand up and apologize for the comments he made, but he will not do that. I will tell members why he will not do it. It is because he has a history of doing this. He attacked Elections Canada when he was in government. He attacks the media. He attacked the Bank of Canada. He has a reputation for doing this, and he effectively gives a licence to all of his members to do the exact same thing.

I must admit that I was really surprised to hear, moments ago, a former law enforcement officer from the Conservative Party, the hon. member for Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, say there is a disconnect between the leadership and the rank and file within the RCMP. That is based on something he was told by a buddy of his, who presumably is in the RCMP. What a wildly outlandish statement to make. A statement like that is completely indefensible, unless he can defend it by talking about who made the comments.

The licence the Leader of the Opposition has given to his MPs is to act like this. I feel sorry for the four or five, and probably many more, Conservatives are rumoured to be getting ready to leave the party. I feel sorry for them because they have to be subjected to this. They have to be subjected to the comments from the member for Bow River. They have to be subjected to the comments from the member for Peace River—Westlock, and to the comments we heard from members who talked about the RCMP's lack of ability.

I will tell members one thing. On this side of the House, we will always stand up for the independence of the agencies of this country, including the RCMP. We will not allow our members to engage in this kind of blatant attack on the independence of them, which is exactly what we are seeing from the other side of the House. It is absolutely despicable. I do not know where he is from now, somewhere in Alberta, but the former member for Carleton, the Leader of the Opposition, should get up in the House and officially apologize to the RCMP for his behaviour.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this debate is supposed to be about Bill C-12, so my question is about Bill C-12. It is supposed to enhance border security, because a concern was expressed that has led to a tariff war, basically, with our neighbours to the south. Instead of reacting like the Mexicans did, who immediately put 10,000 resources in place at the border, the government announced getting 1,000 extra guards and have done nothing except put it off for five years.

Could the member explain why?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of the question. She said that what I talked about had nothing to do with this debate. As a matter of fact, I quoted several members from her political party who made comments.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman is laughing about it now, but I wonder if he agrees with the comments from the hon. member for Peace River—Westlock, who said, “The actions of the leadership of the RCMP...are indefensible in many instances.” The member spent years on the defence committee. Does he say the same thing about the members of our military, if he is so blatantly willing to laugh about the fact that members in his party are getting up and talking about the RCMP in this manner?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP is recognized around the world as a first-class organization and institution. That is how I am looking at this.

I would like to quote an article from the Winnipeg Free Press. In it, the leader of the Conservative Party said the leadership of the RCMP is “despicable”. He is reflecting on a Canadian institution that holds the highest amount of respect. I believe the leader of the Conservative Party owes all Canadians an apology for those remarks.

Would my colleague not agree that what is despicable are the actions of the leader of the Conservative Party?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yes, and at first I thought it was only the Leader of the Opposition, but now he can add another four or five names to that, including the member for Peace River—Westlock, the member for Bow River, the member for Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee and the member for Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, who have all made accusations about the RCMP during this debate on Bill C-12.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are witnessing quite a spectacle today. The member for Kingston and the Islands and his Liberal colleagues have just woken up. There is no one to speak to Bill C-12. The member just arrived, though the House has been in session since 10 a.m. Where were his colleagues? I am asking them to take this more seriously, to be a little more diligent. The government put Bill C‑12 on the agenda for debate and then it did not send anyone to speak to the bill.

As we know, when someone wants to hide their shortcomings, they talk about other people. That is exactly what my colleague from Kingston and the Islands just did. I would like him to tell me honestly why his party did not send anyone to speak to the bill today. Is there some sort of cancel culture at work among the Liberals that is preventing them from speaking to their own bill?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of debate on this issue, including the previous version of Bill C-12, Bill C-2. We have provided hours upon hours of debate on this.

The member is not new here. He knows the way this works. He knows that, if one side stops speaking, all the speeches will continue to go to the other side until somebody from this side wants to get up. That is how a debate works. I have been sitting in the House, listening to the Conservatives attack the RCMP all day long, and I felt the need to get up to defend it. I wish the Bloc would start defending a national organization like that.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-12, An Act respecting certain measures relating to the security of Canada's borders and the integrity of the Canadian immigration system and respecting other related security measures, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to join the debate on Bill C-12.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister spoke to young people. This might have been an opportunity for him to apologize for the 10 years of Liberal failures that have led to historically high unemployment for young people. We are now at a point where the employment rate for young people is the worst it has been in over 25 years. Youth unemployment is approaching half a million young people. It is approaching a rate of 15%.

What is the response of the government to this catastrophe created by its own policy decisions? It is to tell young people that they need to give up more, that they need to sacrifice more. This is the framing we see from the Prime Minister. It is not to take responsibility for the failures of the Liberals over the last 10 years, but to blame the victims of bad Liberal policies. The Liberal approach is to constantly frame the problems we face as a country as if they are somebody else's fault and somebody else needs to take action other than the people who made the policies that got us there in the first place.

We have put forward a Conservative youth jobs plan to reverse the harm done by the Liberals. We have invited them to adopt that plan, but not only have they failed to adopt our jobs plan; they have not even put forward a plan of their own. Their policies attacking energy and job creation, which are pushing the essentials of life out of reach, are making young people increasingly worried about their future.

I was at Concordia University in Montreal yesterday speaking to young people about the situation, asking them whether they were better or worse off than the previous generation. Many young people are worried about their future. They have already suffered so much, yet the Prime Minister, rather than taking responsibility for 10 years of Liberal failures, is telling them that they will have to sacrifice even more. It is time for the government to stop blaming others and take responsibility for its own failures.

As we talk today about Bill C-12, the same is true when it comes to public safety and criminal justice. The government is constantly trying to externalize the source of these problems, yet we know that rates of violent crime were dropping prior to the current government coming into office and began increasing as soon as the government came into office. This is because the Liberal government made policy choices around more generous bail for repeat violent criminals. It made policy choices that got us here.

We will certainly study the provisions in Bill C-12 in detail. We look forward to the study that will take place at committee. However, there has been a complete failure by the Liberal government over the last 10 years to take public safety and crime seriously. It has not recognized that it is Liberal bail, Liberal policy choices and bills proposed and passed by the government that got us into this situation in the first place. Rather than calling on other people to make sacrifices, the government should have the humility to recognize its own policy failures and how the choices it has made on the economy, on crime, on immigration and in many areas have led to a situation where young people are more pessimistic about the future than they used to be.

We are here in this House to talk about restoring opportunity for young people and about restoring hope. I believe our country can have a bright future, but it is in the hands of the members of this House to make that future happen. It is not by sticking our heads in the sand like an ostrich that we make a future better for young people. It is by confronting the real data and real challenges when it comes to public safety and youth unemployment and making things better.

We call on the Liberals to adopt Conservative jail, not bail legislation and to adopt the Conservative youth jobs plan. Those are the solutions we need.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the member spent a lot of time talking about youth and jobs. I am sure he recalls, because he was around then, when Stephen Harper cut the the summer jobs program for youth. If we were to contrast the overall number of jobs, more than double the number of jobs have been created in the last 10 years than were created in the 10 years the member was part of the Conservative regime known as the Harper regime.

November 4 is coming up, and I believe we will see substantive measures to build hope in the minds and hearts of Canadians. It would be a drastic change for us to start adopting the failed Conservative policies that were demonstrated in the past. Even today, a Conservative colleague said the national school program was nothing but “garbage”.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is very simple. I will encourage the member to consult the labour force survey, which comes out every month from Statistics Canada and reveals the state of the job numbers.

He may not like spending changes or decisions made by the previous government, but objectively, young people were better off, our streets were safer, crime rates were lower, housing prices and rent were way lower and job numbers were higher. Objectively, we have the worst employment rate for young people in more than 25 years.

The Liberals want to measure success by intentions and government spending. We measure success by results that are available from Statistics Canada. The government should hold itself accountable to results, not rhetoric.