Madam Speaker. I rise in the chamber to address today's opposition day motion, which was brought forward by the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot. The motion proposes a “three strikes and you're out” law aimed at keeping repeat serious offenders, particularly those who commit violent crimes, behind bars longer; limiting their access to bail, probation, parole and house arrest; and establishing a mandatory minimum sentence.
The government is deeply troubled by violent crime and is committed to keeping Canadians safe, strengthening confidence in the justice system and ensuring that the bail system promotes public safety first. It is committed to doing so in a smart, evidence-informed way, drawing on empirical research and real-world experience to address repeat and dangerous offenders effectively while respecting the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The member for Battle River—Crowfoot has raised the issue of violent offending. I want to speak to two areas of particular concern for Canadians: extortion and auto theft. These are not abstract or distant problems. They involve violence, or the very real threat of violence, and they leave lasting impacts on victims and families, particularly many in my community. Auto theft and carjacking put Canadians in immediate physical danger and threaten their sense of safety in our neighbourhoods. Extortion preys on fear and vulnerability, targets individuals and small businesses, and can destabilize entire communities.
Take, for instance, a recent and deeply troubling incident in Brampton. On April 30, 2025, a local business situated near Queen Street and Kennedy Road South was targeted with gunfire. While no one was inside at the time, the owner began receiving threatening messages demanding money. This act of extortion not only endangered the victim but also instilled fear within the broader community.
In response, Peel Regional Police swiftly initiated an investigation leading to the arrest of three individuals on charges of extortion: Harpal Singh, Rajnoor Singh and Eknoor Singh, all from Brampton. These arrests underscore the severity of the crime and the commitment of law enforcement to uphold public safety. Such incidents highlight the urgent need for comprehensive measures to combat extortion and ensure the protection of our communities.
That is why the RCMP has created a national task force to coordinate investigations and share intelligence across the country, focusing in particular on cases that have affected the South Asian communities in Brampton, Surrey, Edmonton and Abbotsford. It is expanding to other regions as well. This task force is working not only with domestic law enforcement but also with international partners to track and disrupt organized crime networks.
Addressing these challenges requires more than words. It demands concrete action. The government has taken, and continues to take, meaningful steps to strengthen the tools available to law enforcement and the justice system, ensuring that repeat and dangerous offenders are held accountable and that Canadians can feel safe in their homes, on their streets and in their businesses.
Key changes to the Criminal Code's bail provisions came into effect on January 4, 2024, under the former Bill C-48. Individuals charged with serious repeat violent offences, particularly those involving weapons such as firearms, knives or bear spray, now carry the burden of demonstrating a reverse onus, in particular demonstrating why they should be released on bail, rather than Crown counsel having to fight against the bail. Courts are required to consider an accused person's history of violent convictions and to state on the record how community safety, as well as circumstances of Indigenous peoples and other overrepresented populations, have been taken into account.
These reforms ensure that public safety is at the forefront of bail decisions, while they respect individual circumstances and their rights protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and provide judges with clear guidance to make informed, evidence-based decisions, but we are going to take this even further. In our new upcoming bail and sentencing legislation, we are going to make sure that the courts are committed to these basic principles. Public safety should be at the forefront for the reason for denying bail. If somebody is a public safety risk, they should not be provided bail.
I hope the courts and Crown counsel are taking this under advisement, or will take it under advisement, and that we see decisions made in accordance to that in the future. It is quite concerning to me as well, and this new government is a tough-on-crime government. It takes public safety very seriously. That is why the Prime Minister has created a new rule, in particular, just to address the issue of crime in our country.
Turning back to extortion, we know that extortion has increasingly moved online. Nearly half of reported cases involve cyber elements. Bill C-2, legislation that we just debated in the House yesterday, has many measures in it that would provide law enforcement with the tools needed.
This summer, I spoke to many extortion victims across the country. I received advice from them and from law enforcement as to the challenges they face in investigating these cases. Some of the challenges are with being able to get information on IP addresses and phone numbers across our borders, and Bill C-2 would help in that regard.
I hope Conservatives will support Bill C-2 and the measures in it, because all of the measures have been guided by recommendations of law enforcement across the country, particularly with examples of cases where they have not been able to put criminals behind bars due to those challenges. This bill would give them those tools. It is our new government's second bill in the House. However, it has been disappointing to hear that a lot of Conservatives take issue with the bill, although the chiefs of police in their areas are all in favour of the elements that are contained within it. I hope they will reconsider and support the entirety of the bill.
Turning back to extortion, the government has also responded by equipping agencies with the resources they need to combat cyber-enabled crimes. For example, Cybertip.ca is supported in its work to intervene directly with platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat, to help protect young people in Canada in real time. The Department of Justice Canada's victim services directory is expanding access to community supports for victims of sextortion and online child exploitation, which is a rising concern for me and a rising issue for children in Canada. Bill C-2 also addresses this, and would give the capabilities that are needed to put criminals that exploit our young children behind bars.
As well, the government has updated legislation in response to these troubling offences. Recent changes expanded the national sex offender registry to include serious crimes, such as sextortion and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, ensuring that police have access to critical investigative tools when responding to these offences.
Turning our attention back to auto theft, which has rightly been described as a national crisis, last year, we saw the government put together an auto theft summit at which law enforcement and government at all levels came to the same table to work on how we can address this issue. Since then, we have been having a lot of success. Organized crime groups that are stealing cars at an alarming rate are using new technology to do so. In response to this, in particular, the government has invested significantly in prevention, enforcement and international co-operation.
I will list some of the results that came out of that auto theft summit.
Public Safety Canada has committed $15 million over three years to help law enforcement combat serious and organized crime, including auto theft. This includes bilateral agreements with provincial, territorial and municipal police forces to strengthen their ability to seize stolen vehicles from the Canada Border Services Agency.
International collaboration is also key, and that is why Canada has invested in Interpol's transnational vehicle crime project, which is enhancing information sharing and investigative tactics to identify and recover stolen vehicles across borders.
When speaking with those in law enforcement across the country, they mentioned the help Interpol has been able to provide to seize these vehicles and basically freeze criminal organizations from being able to successfully get proceeds from the crimes they are committing. If we are able to stop them from making money on auto theft, as a result, we see a decrease in that type of crime.
The government, in addition to that, has also provided $28 million to CBSA for the investigation and examination of stolen vehicles at ports. Supported by new detection technologies and advanced analytics, including artificial intelligence, Transport Canada is working directly with port facilities to address security vulnerabilities and update security plans. At the same time, we are partnering with the automotive industry to ensure that vehicles are harder to steal in the first place.
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is working with Canadian companies to develop solutions to prevent theft and assist with vehicle recovery.
We are also pursuing ways to remove devices used by organized criminals to override wireless entry systems from the Canadian marketplace.
The government's decisive actions to combat auto theft are already yielding tangible results. According to the Équité Association's “First Half of 2025: Auto Theft Trend Report”, Canada has experienced a 19.1% national decrease in the theft of private passenger vehicles compared to the same period in 2024. Notably, Ontario and Quebec, previous hot spots for vehicle crime, saw declines of 25.9% and 22.2% respectively. These improvements are attributed to a coordinated effort involving federal and provincial governments, law enforcement agencies and the insurance industry. Initiatives such as the national action plan on combatting auto theft, led by Public Safety Canada, have been instrumental in implementing comprehensive strategies to protect Canadians from the organized crime behind auto theft.
While challenges still remain, these early successes demonstrate that targeted, collaborative efforts can effectively reduce auto theft and enhance public safety as a result. These actions show that the government is not standing still, but providing law enforcement with the resources they need, modernizing technology and regulations, and strengthening partnerships at home and abroad. This is how we address the complex threats posed by serious and organized crime and ensure that Canadians are safe. The government is responding in a coordinated, thoughtful and practical way. Canada's bail system already allows for detention where there are risks to public safety. Courts can impose strict conditions where release is appropriate. Our responsibility is to ensure that these decisions are informed by robust law enforcement capacity and strong tools to manage and prevent crime.
I would like to also say that in some instances courts should be allowed to enforce strict sentences on one strike. Why stop at three? In certain cases, there should be the stiffest penalty given depending on the circumstances of that case and the seriousness of the crime committed.
There are many provisions we are going to put forward that I think the House and all of its members can support. They are going to be informed by law enforcement and experts. We are going to make sure that we act responsibly, not just put forward ideas and implement things the Supreme Court would then overturn, which would end up putting us in the same spot we began in. Oftentimes, I hear the Conservatives talk about these ideas that may sound interesting in theory. They have done this before. They have put in place provisions that the Supreme Court has overturned and that our government then had to deal with. Therefore, it is really important that we act responsibly and come at this with the view of making sure we have comprehensive bail reform.
I am looking forward to sitting down with the provinces and territories, as well, in the upcoming days because there are lots of responsibilities that are within their jurisdiction that they have to implement.
I spent some time in courts in my area this summer, sitting in on bail hearings. I have to say that I was really sad to see the lack of resources, including the inability of Crown council at times to effectively argue a case for bail because they are overworked. They have a lot of files.
We need to make sure our provinces have the appropriate number of Crown council and well-trained judges. This is really important. A lot of Canadians may not be aware, but the administration of justice, when it comes to the majority of criminal cases, happens in our provincial courtrooms, so it is really important that the provinces do their part and efficiently handle the volume of cases coming in. They can use technology. I think there are many ways we can improve our court data sharing to better inform ourselves as to where the issues and blind spots are, how we can address them and how the federal government can also help at the provincial level.
We have heard that many judges are releasing people due to not having space in provincial holding centres. That, too, is an issue that needs to be addressed.
At the end of the day, I know all of us are here for the best interest of Canadians, and we want to make sure people are safe. That is exactly my interest. I am going to work hard to make sure that we collaborate and do everything possible to make sure some of the headlines we are reading in news articles that are very upsetting do not continue to repeat themselves, but we are going to do it in the proper way.
It is also very important, and many constituents of mine also talk about, how we address the root cause. How do we prevent crime from starting in the first place? How do we make sure that we continue to have some of the lowest rates of recidivism around the world? We do.
It is very important that we continue to invest in our correctional facilities as well, to make sure proper programming is there so that at the end of someone's appropriate sentence, they reintegrate into society and do not reoffend and also to make sure there is good programming at the youth level so kids have an opportunity to succeed. All of these things are very important when we talk about public safety, and I think sometimes the Conservatives are missing a key component of the puzzle.
It is my commitment here today, and my government's, to make sure we address all of these issues in the coming time and create a safer Canada for everyone.
