Debates of Sept. 16th, 2025

Strong Borders Act

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

Mr. Speaker, we said that we were not going to give the government carte blanche. Once again, we are going to work hard in committee. We want to get some answers from the government.

I repeat that, when promises are made during an election campaign, both the opposition parties and the public want to see results. However, right now, they seem to be mostly empty promises.

On the ground, we are being told that 2,000 to 3,000 more CBSA officers are needed. The government says it will hire 1,000. I do not know where the government got that number, but it is not 1,000 officers that are needed; it is between 2,000 and 3,000.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we are back today, again, to do something we do a lot of in this place, which is cleaning up yet another mess that the Liberal government, the government for the last 10 years, has created.

This time we are tackling a broken border security regime that lets guns, drugs and criminals flow across the border with absolutely no consequences. When we tie that together with an equally broken criminal justice system that provides no accountability for the offenders and no safety for innocent Canadians, we get a disaster and crisis-level mess. How did we get here? That is pretty simple. We will walk everyone right through it. For everybody watching, for those who might listen this time around, we will start with Justin Trudeau and his ministers. By the way, they are still there on the front bench. They prefer giving rights to criminals over law-abiding Canadians. Pieces of legislation such as Bill C-5 and Bill C-75 codify this ideology and let convicted criminals roam free through a revolving-door justice system of bail with no punishments and no accountability whatsoever.

We see it every single day with every story on the news, story one, two, three, four, five, particularly in my region of the GTA. Piled on that are weak immigration policies that deliver outcomes such as a 632% increase in people trying to cross into the country illegally from the U.S. Sprinkled on that is a healthy dose of free drugs, courtesy of the taxpayer, available to anyone, anywhere, even when we know these drugs end up in the streets or in our schools and, frankly, make the plight of addiction much worse and not better. This is all topped off with a broken federal bureaucracy that has ballooned; it is so weak and so detached from reality that literal terrorist organizations, in some cases, can fundraise, recruit and operate with impunity here in Canada from coast to coast to coast. Some of them have charitable numbers even still.

It does not take a genius to realize that all of these ingredients would set us up for a ginormous, if that is a word, border security and crime crisis in the country.

We get stories like those of Raj Kumar Mehmi, who was convicted of smuggling 80 kilos of cocaine in 2023, sentenced to 15 years and released. He escaped, hopped on a plane and is now gone forever.

Arjun Sahnan, a 19-year-old, was arrested for drive-by shootings and extortion. He got bail, booked a flight and is now gone too. This is the reality of the system that the Liberals designed. They actually designed this. They thought about it and thought these were good changes, which then resulted in chaos.

Apparently, no one on that side saw this coming, not even from a mile away or from their work from home set-ups. We flash forward to right now, a few months later, and what do we see? Once again, we see that the Liberal government is showing up with a bill that does not actually deliver on what Canadians want, what they have asked for and what they are screaming about in the streets. It is a bill that claims to fix a problem but instead proposes things that no Canadian would ever sign off on.

They have cooked up legislation that keeps a broken border and immigration regime in place while also punishing law-abiding citizens with massive expansions in federal power. Bill C-2 keeps in place the catch-and-release for criminals who traffic fentanyl and firearms and takes advantage of the weak laws that hurt Canadians. It does not add mandatory prison time for fentanyl traffickers. It does not add mandatory prison time for gangsters who use guns to commit crimes.

There have been several shootings in my community in Vaughan. In just three weeks, there have been seven. An innocent man literally gave his life to save his family from a random violent home invasion. He was shot to death in his living room, but the legislation would not guarantee that his killers or any other people terrorizing our communities would actually be behind bars. We are told to wait, that it is going to happen.

The same people who created the crisis cannot be trusted to fix it. Even worse, it still allows house arrest for even the most serious offences. A person can commit grand theft auto and still be in their living room playing the video game. At the same time, Bill C-2 puts new limits on the use of cash in our economy, ostensibly to target gangs and criminals.

Do we really believe that gangs and criminals, the ones pushing fentanyl, the ones running guns and laundering money, are suddenly going to start following the law? Of course not. We make those assertions, and we make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.

Instead, seniors and small businesses are the ones who will be unfairly punished by this massive overreach in government power. It even goes farther, with massive new powers of the federal government that threaten Canadian civil liberties.

We know this. We have seen this movie before. It is what the Liberals do every single time. They find a problem, but they do not solve the actual problem; then they massively expand their power to take more rights away from Canadians. We have seen how this happens.

There is no limit to the government's hunger for power. It tried to give itself unlimited spending power during COVID. Just two months ago, it sneakily removed privacy provisions from the online streaming bill and called it an accident. Now, it is burying conditions in the back of the bill that have nothing to do with border security and clearly show Canadians that it wants more power.

This is not just overblown rhetoric. Bill C-2 will let Ottawa open people's mail without oversight, force Internet companies to hand over private information and allow them to search without a warrant in certain scenarios. This is not fixing our borders. It is not protecting Canadians. It is a government power grab, plain and simple, and it should make everybody very uncomfortable.

Canadians did not give the Prime Minister a blank cheque to take more power away from Canadians and infringe on their rights. Instead of that, what we should do in the bill is hire more border agents, the ones who are on the front lines, as was done in the past. They can patrol the entire Canadian border properly, not in an Ottawa office but on the ground. We should have people in uniforms who would enforce the laws that are there.

Let us install scanners at major ports to stop the flow of guns and stolen cars in and out of our country. Maybe we should actually keep track of who is coming in and who is leaving this country so that we do not have another situation where the government actually loses count of everybody it has let in.

We should end the soft-on-crime provisions in Bill C-5 and Bill C-75 and put criminals in jail, restoring the rule of law in our country, rather than letting them out on bail minutes, hours or days after they commit a crime. While we are at it, let us stop handing out lethal drugs for free, paid for by the taxpayers, and put people in actual treatment.

The government is coming here to talk a big game about the bill, but once again, the actions do not match the words. The public safety minister should probably have a conversation with the justice minister. He does not seem to think there is a problem with crime at all. He mocked Canadians who are fed up with what is going on in their communities, in their neighbourhoods, in their homes, in their businesses.

He might not think Canada is the Wild West, but when people are being shot in their own homes, when cars are getting carjacked at random, when people are being mugged in the streets, it is a lot closer to the Wild West than we should ever be comfortable with here.

This is a guy who broke the housing market, who broke the long-held consensus on our immigration system. Now he is putting his talents to use at the justice department. I hope we spare all Canadians from that going on for a very long time.

To get to what is at the core of the Liberal government is that they put the same people who broke everything in charge of fixing it. The way they fix it is by bringing forward a bill; they tell us they have good intentions in the bill, yet it is a power grab. It is a power grab to look at our mail, to ban cash, to do things they never had the power to do before, all under the guise of protecting Canadians and protecting our border.

Everybody should take that very seriously. Everybody should look at their intentions with the bill very seriously. They say they are going to do one thing, but they do the exact opposite, and there are no results ever for this.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Madam Speaker, I would like to take a second to give my deepest condolences and sympathy to Abdul Aleem Farooqi's family. What happened to him and his family is outrageous. It is something that angers me as well, and it is something we are making sure does not happen to anyone else in the future. We are going to do everything possible in our upcoming justice reform legislation to make sure the changes that are recommended by our policing agencies are undertaken.

When it comes to Bill C-2, the bill we are talking about today, our stronger borders act, I would like to know if the member opposite is willing to vote in favour of the legislation, which gives police agencies the tools necessary to crack down on organized crime.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question, but police agencies right across the country have been asking the government for bail reform, when the government has destroyed the justice system. The minister was in the last government, which did exactly that. The Liberals have heard from police associations and from mayors across the country, and they did nothing. They say that it is coming tomorrow, but how many more people have to be victimized in their community before tomorrow comes? That is the point that the minister should answer in the House during this debate.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, my colleague's speech was excellent. She mentioned something about the rising crime in Vaughan—Woodbridge. People are legitimately afraid in their own home in our community, and I was wondering whether my colleague could elaborate on the lack of attention that has been paid since the election, frankly, and long before that, to this very serious issue.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, my colleague comes from the community where Mr. Farooqi was from. He stood with Conservatives during a press conference, calling for the very things that the Liberals have broken. This has gone on far too long for far too many families. They do not have to directly be a victim of violent crime. It changes the way that people live. It changes their behaviour. It changes the fact that they have fear of living in their once-safe community. If the Liberals do not understand that and they make fun of Canadians for calling it the wild west, then I do not know what we are doing here.

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I know we are veering a little bit into what sounds like a conversation about bail reform, which is appropriate given the context of the legislation and what the justice minister has been talking about.

I wonder whether the member may have some commentary to add in regard to, in addition to a very significant amount of work ahead of us as a federal government, the role that provincial governments have to play. In many instances, I know that judges who are using their discretion for folks who are being released are provincial appointees. Some changes to the Criminal Code are necessary of course, but there are administration-of-justice components as well. I am wondering whether the member can comment on the role she feels provincial governments have, in addition to that of the federal government.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I welcome the member back for his second term. He should know that the federal Criminal Code is administered out of this place, and that is what we are talking about. We are talking about things like Bill C-5 and Bill C-75, which take the onerous provision out and allow weak bail. We are talking about this in light of Bill C-2, because they have allowed chaos in our streets. We will continue talking about crime every single day of the week when the Liberals are trying to convince Canadians that they are the ones trying to fix it.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Speaker, it almost seems like the Liberals across from us are just wondering why the provincial courts are not restraining people, after the Liberals passed a law that required and imposed the least restraint. It was the secretary of state for public safety who introduced this to the debate, and I would like the member to comment, if she would, on the Liberals' response.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, the member well knows, and I am sure it would not be news to the members on the other side, that provincial judges interpret federal laws right out of the Criminal Code. That is how it works.

However, today we are talking about the very fact that the Liberals have let crime, chaos, drugs, disorder, a crisis in our immigration system, a crisis in our housing system and a crisis in the cost of living get out of control. Do they believe that they are the ones to fix it? I am not—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

We are out of time.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Windsor West.

[Harb Gill, Conservative, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to rise in the House at the start of the parliamentary session on behalf of the great people of Windsor West. More importantly, I am here to speak on their behalf in this chamber.

Before I get to the matter at hand, I would like to speak about the workers of Titan Tool & Die in Windsor, the men and women of Unifor Local 195, who have dedicated, on average, 35-plus years of their lives to this factory, which was built by the late Joseph Szecsei, a proud Canadian and a pioneer of manufacturing in Windsor. Today, these workers are locked out while the employer moves jobs and investment capital to the United States. Why? It is not because of tariffs or trade barriers. It is because of government policies that have made it easier and more profitable for Canadian companies to send work and investment south. This is the reality the Liberals have created: constant talk about supporting Canadian workers, yet policies that incentivize moving jobs and critical investment out of Canada.

The people of Windsor built this company. The Liberals' failure to protect these workers is a failure of leadership. I call on the employer to return to the bargaining table with the union, and I call on the government to finally put Canadian jobs first, before they are lost forever.

With respect to Bill C-2, I am not just going to speak about it as the member of Parliament for Windsor West, but as someone who spent nearly three decades serving as a police officer.

I patrolled our streets and answered the calls. I also served in the marine unit along our international border. I know of many colleagues in Windsor-Essex who serve as police officers and CBSA officers and who intercepted shipments of drugs and weapons before they reached our streets. This is real frontline police work, which results in lives saved and communities protected. Let me share one story that illustrates why we cannot be satisfied with half measures.

A Toronto man was convicted this year for smuggling over 36 million dollars' worth of drugs into Canada. However, over 23 million dollars' worth of his meth was seized at the Windsor-Detroit bridge. Despite the scale of his crime, he was allowed to remain out of jail for nearly six months, until the birth of his child, before finally serving his sentence. This was based on a joint submission by the Crown prosecutor and the defence lawyer and approved by a judge. They all patted themselves on the back for being compassionate citizens, which is very commendable, but where is the compassion for the families who have lost loved ones to these drugs? Where is the compassion for parents burying their children? For communities terrorized by gangs, dealers, and the violence that follows them, where is the compassion? Bill C-2 fails to address these realities. It waters down penalties for serious drug offences and violent crimes while doing little for victims or the families who are left to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives.

When I speak with former colleagues, whether police officers or CBSA officers, the frustration is very clear. They see traffickers and gangbangers treated with leniency. They also see that some prosecutors are rushing to throw the book at ordinary Canadians who are defending a family member from an armed home invader. Does that sound like justice to members? It does not to me.

Some people are asking why some prosecutors, or the police for that matter, are timid when it comes to organized crime and repeat violent offenders, but fearless or even punitive when it comes to law-abiding citizens defending their families. These are the questions that victims, families and even frontline police officers are asking us every day. Even experts and legal practitioners have raised alarms that the bill before us is light on consequences. My colleague, the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola, a former prosecutor, has already highlighted a lack of serious penalties. Without meaningful consequences, the message is clear: Crime pays and victims do not matter at all.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police emphasizes the need for balance. Yes, that is needed. It supports prevention and treatment, but they also know, like any other police officer, as well as those of us here, that enforcement matters. Without enforcement and without accountability, we are left responding to overdoses, chasing repeat offenders and watching our social fabric unravel.

Let us be very clear: Windsor West is on the front lines of these challenges. Every illegal gun smuggled across our border, and every fentanyl pill pressed and sold on our streets, puts our families at risk. That is not only in Windsor, but also in the rest of Canada. Instead of giving prosecutors and law enforcement stronger tools, this bill sends the opposite signal, which is that Canada is a soft target and our justice system bends instead of standing firm.

Another aspect of the bill that raises legitimate concern among Canadians is privacy. We value the freedoms and privacy of every Canadian. No one should fear that their personal correspondence or packages can be opened arbitrarily. It is absolutely true that we cannot and must not ignore the threats posed by illegal drugs, firearms and organized crime. Law enforcement must have the tools to investigate serious criminal activity but only in a targeted, high-risk context and always with proper judicial oversight. Strong safeguards, transparency and accountability are essential to ensuring that Canadians' rights are respected.

There is a deeper concern here, which is our sovereignty. Buried in this bill are provisions that could allow the government to enter into agreements with foreign states. I have heard from many constituents about this issue. These agreements may compel Canadian service providers to hand over information about our citizens. Civil liberties experts have warned that this framework risks weakening judicial oversight, especially if it links to treaties such as the Budapest protocol or the U.S.-style data-sharing arrangements. We cannot have this.

When we make it clear that it is easier for foreign authorities to access Canadians' private information without full and transparent judicial scrutiny, we are not just eroding our privacy and that of our citizens. We are also giving up a piece of our sovereignty. Protecting our borders should not mean handing over control of our citizens' data.

The Liberal government has had nearly a decade to act decisively on crime and border security, but what we see instead are half measures and weak enforcement. Families are losing children to overdoses. Communities are living in fear of violent repeat offenders. Frontline officers are frustrated that the laws tie their hands while criminals exploit loopholes.

Conservatives believe in compassion, but compassion without accountability is weakness. If we want safer streets and stronger communities, we need both prevention and firm enforcement. We need all of our prosecutors to take criminals seriously, not just some of them. We need police and CBSA officers to have the resources and our backing so they can use their powers effectively. We need penalties that match the harm these criminals cause. Canadians deserve better. We will continue to stand with victims, families and the frontline officers who put themselves in harm's way every day to defend our communities.

Windsor West is a community of builders, protectors and entrepreneurs. We deserve a government that stands with our workers, supports our frontline officers and protects our families from criminals who prey on them. We Conservatives will fight for safer streets, stronger borders and a truly sovereign nation that answers to its own people.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Madam Speaker, in the member opposite's comments he talked about the importance of privacy of Canadians, which we believe in. I had an opportunity this summer to talk to an RCMP member in my community, and he was explaining to me why this portion of the bill is really important. He talked about the fact that he worked in Yukon, and he took a week away. In one week, one package came in. There had been one case of overdose, and in only one week, he saw 700 cases.

Can the member talk about why RCMP members are calling for us to bring this measure into the bill to make sure we can reduce overdoses in communities like Yukon?

[Harb Gill, Conservative, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, there are many things we need to do to fix our judicial and postal systems, but targeting people and their mail through these measures is not the answer. There has to be better options, better scanners, better things that we can use to intercept, rather than using a blanket opportunity to go after every piece of mail out there to say we are going to treat all our citizens as suspects. That is not how we should treat our people.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Madam Speaker, in my community, I have certainly seen issues with the bail reform that has been put in place by the Liberal government. We have had individuals commit assaults, be out on the street the same day and commit those types of awful crimes again.

I am wondering if the member has seen any of the impacts of the terrible, Liberal criminal legislation in his riding.

[Harb Gill, Conservative, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, that is one of the reasons I got involved and came to this chamber. I am sick and tired of us being constant victims. We need to stand up to these criminal elements. We need to be able to stand up to organized crime, and we need to stand up to defend ourselves.

I would love and appreciate if the Liberal government did something about this, rather than telling our folks, “Sorry, we are trying our best.” As a salesman of the justice system in my previous life, I told folks, “This is not a good product,” and I hated to say that. That is not who we are. That is not how our country should be defined.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Madam Speaker, I believe the conversation is misleading Canadians to some degree. The Canada postal act currently does not allow Canada Post to inspect parcels that are under 500 grams. There were over 2.2 billion letters sent in 2023. Many of these letters were found to contain illicit drugs, fentanyl or weapons.

Does the member not think that the government, Canada Post, inspectors or police should have the authority to be able to seek a warrant if these types of substances are killing Canadians?

[Harb Gill, Conservative, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, without proper judicial authorization, we become a lawless country. We have to have some safeguards in place so that we can do all these things.

Yes, I absolutely believe that we should be able to catch the criminals who are using the Canada Post system to send these drugs willy-nilly. That should not be an option for anybody. How about starting with a better intel system where we can identify the idiots who are sending all these things to poor Canadians who are victims of drug overdoses? Let us start with that.

[Sukhman Gill, Conservative, Abbotsford—South Langley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to start by thanking all the constituents of Abbotsford—South Langley. I am honoured to be here representing my community today.

The citizens of my riding have been advocating for stronger laws and stronger borders. I appreciate that Bill C-2 is trying to tackle high crime rates, but the bill in its current form is unacceptable. It has taken 10 years for the Liberals to put it forward, and if it is passed, crime rates will continue to rise in our communities and individual freedoms will be bulldozed by the Liberal government.

My riding encompasses borders with the United States. The Sumas and Aldergrove border crossings fall within my riding. It is close to the Pacific Ocean ports as well.

In British Columbia, fentanyl continues to be devastating in all of our communities. According to Health Canada, close to 50,000 Canadians died from apparent opioid toxicity between January 2016 and June 2024. Of all accidental opioid deaths in the first half of 2024, 79% involved fentanyl. In November 2024, police uncovered a superlab in Langley, within my community, that was capable of producing multiple kilograms of fentanyl every single week.

Despite these alarming facts, the Liberal government refuses to fix Canada's broken jail system. Members of my community believe that those who are profiting from poisoning community members, especially the children within our communities, belong behind bars. If the government were serious about protecting our borders, our neighbours and the neighbourhoods within our communities, it would ensure that moving fentanyl into our communities carried real jail time.

This bill does not address any mandatory minimums. It would maintain house arrest for serious crimes and includes no minimum sentencing for those who commit sexual assault against children. Since 2015, sexual violations against children have gone up 118%. That is simply disgraceful. If families cannot protect their children and we here cannot protect our children, who will?

Bill C-2 demonstrates a larger issue in Canadian policy. The Liberal government will overlook serious crimes, including crimes against children, without any ramifications. If passed in its current state, Bill C-2 will allow criminals to keep taking advantage of Canadians. Crime rates for extortion and sex-related crimes are growing dramatically. We need to bring in real change, and we need it now.

If this so-called strong borders act was serious about protecting our borders, it would increase mandatory minimums for drug traffickers. Currently, the mandatory minimum is only one year. How could our borders be truly strong if those who are trafficking toxic drugs are not being punished properly? Drug traffickers are bringing death sentences to our communities. One year in jail is insulting to the victims of dangerous crimes. However, it is not surprising considering that the Liberal Party is the one that supported the decriminalization of fentanyl in my province.

Why is it that the more the government fails to address real criminality, the more it simultaneously increases the targeting of innocent law-abiding citizens? The reality is that Canada is desperate for tougher policies on crime. Since 2015, violent crime has gone up 50%. Homicides are up by 27%. Sexual assaults are up by 75%, and 90% of those are committed against women. The Liberals should be ashamed, especially as they claim to champion the support of women. Violent firearms offences are up by 116%, and gun regulations do not stop criminals from acquiring firearms. They only hurt law-abiding citizens.

Since 2015, extortion is up 357%, auto theft is up 45% and human trafficking is up 84%. The bottom line is that if the Liberals cared about strengthening our borders, they would jail the traffickers, and there would be an immediate drop in crimes with illegal weapons, such as extortion and armed robbery. Bill C-2, if passed in its current form, will allow gangsters and traffickers to continue to cause chaos and tragedy in my riding.

This bill would also give the government warrantless power over Canadians' mail. The Liberals seem perfectly fine with intercepting private letters and packages of law-abiding Canadians. This is not public safety; this is government overreach.

Bill C-2 then targets the use of cash, our legal tender, based on hypothetical crimes, while the Liberals stay soft on the real ones. Extortion, auto theft and human trafficking are the real crimes surging, and the government is more interested in regulating what is in our wallets and in our mail. Drug dealers would not be stopped by this bill. They would simply move their operations to different forms and different systems. Money launderers would not be stopped either. They would find new ways to move their cash. The only people who would get squeezed are honest Canadians who pay their bills and send packages.

Canadians want real change and criminals behind bars, not more government control over their mail and money. Under this legislation, the government reserves the right to force the hand of Canadians and Internet companies to surrender sensitive data without a warrant. Police cannot search our homes without warrants or probable cause, so why should they be allowed to search our private communications without warrants? That is not just an attack on privacy. It goes against free speech and expression, both of which are protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

To conclude my speech, I want to end on the note that I completely agree with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government, who once sat in opposition and said, “Could the minister assure those who are listening to the debate that the government does not, in any fashion whatsoever, allow for any sort of invasion of privacy without some form of a judicial court warrant to enable police to do so?” The Liberals once understood this policy, and today they are shredding it. Canadians want criminals behind bars, not their freedom bargained away. Bill C-2 would bulldoze liberties while letting criminals off the hook, and that is why the Conservatives will not stand for it.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite mentioned extortion. I know extortion has increased in his community. It is a concern that I have, and I am glad the member shares it.

This piece of legislation, Bill C-2, would allow police to identify a person from their phone number by getting basic subscriber information from a telco company, meaning their name and address. This is a very important tool that law enforcement has been asking for so their investigations are not delayed or they can rule people out.

Does the member not feel that being able to speed up extortion investigations is an important tool that we should give law enforcement?

[Sukhman Gill, Conservative, Abbotsford—South Langley, BC]

Madam Speaker, if the Liberals were so concerned about extortion, they would have supported my colleague's extortion bill, which addressed all these concerns, and voted in favour of it instead of opposing it. The Conservatives are here fighting for Canadians and voicing their concerns. I know on a first-hand basis the damage that is being done by Liberal policies.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals call this bill the strong borders act. Canadians want secure borders, something the Liberals have opened up in the last 10 years through their intentional policies. Why do Canadians want a secure border? It is because the root of the issue comes down to public safety, again something the Liberals have completely shattered in the last 10 years with procrime policies that have unleashed unprecedented levels of crime into our once-safe communities.

If the Liberals care about public safety, why is there nothing in this bill about mandatory prison time for fentanyl traffickers, who are killing people en masse, to the tune of tens of thousands? Why is there nothing in this bill about mandatory prison time for gangsters who are using guns to commit crimes? Lastly, why does this bill contain nothing about permitting house arrest, which the Liberals have enabled through their soft-on-crime, intentional procrime policies over the last 10 years, when they purportedly want to deal with this public safety issue? Is this just another case of Liberal incompetence or are they trying to mislead Canadians?

[Sukhman Gill, Conservative, Abbotsford—South Langley, BC]

Madam Speaker, yes, it is exactly what my colleague from Richmond Hill said. It is Liberal incompetence. We see that our communities are now facing challenges like at no other time before. We have seen that incompetence trickle down year after year, and the effects are more crucial now than we have ever seen before.

We need to make sure that we secure our borders properly and bring forward proper bills and amendments that will make sure we strengthen our justice system. My colleague is very right about the matter, because he is facing the same challenges we are in my community of Abbotsford—South Langley.

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to refer back to the member's quote on my principles with respect to getting a warrant. The problem the member is facing is that he is listening to the Conservatives in the back room. They are wrong. In fact, if we look at the legislation, all we need to realize is that Canada Post has a legal obligation to deliver the mail. With respect to delivery, it cannot open letters. If the legislation were to pass and a law enforcement agency were to get a warrant, it would be able to open a letter.

Fentanyl is being mailed today to all sorts of communities. That is why we need this bill. My principal position on this has not changed from years ago. Would the member not agree in principle that getting a warrant to open a letter is a good aspect of the legislation? If the answer to that is that he agrees, then maybe the Conservatives need to revisit their speaking notes.

[Sukhman Gill, Conservative, Abbotsford—South Langley, BC]

Madam Speaker, we need to make sure we address the concerns our citizens are facing. B.C. is facing a fentanyl crisis like no other. The member across the aisle is correct. He needs to make sure he is competent in what he is stating, as before. At one point, the member across was right, but now he is not aligned with what he said years before.