CPAC - Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 07:00 p.m. (ET) - Segment #2

chamber, there's a minimum and place for people who are repeat offenders for auto theft. >> The Chair: The honourable member from Thornhill. >> Mr. Speaker, its well-known the cars that are stolen and up in the Port of Montréal or at least many of them, 1.7 million containers at the Port of Montréal. How many of them are scanned? >> The Chair: The honourable Minister. >> What I can indicate is we put $28 million to do just that, to scan more of those containers and that has resulted in intercepts of over 1000 cars by CBSA in 2024, including at the Port of Montréal. >> The Chair: The honourable remember from Thornhill, five minute time has elapsed. I do apologize. One moment, please. >> I would invite you to speak with table officers but my understanding is when we are in the committee of a whole, answers are to be balanced proportionately to the time that is provided in the question. I wrote down the times. In one case, by my rough calculation, this is by no means scientific, there was a 142nd disparity. I would ask that you please enforce that and enforce it strictly if I am in fact correct on this. >> The Chair: I think the honourable member. There was one question with the honourable member has gone over time and the chair gave indication as member saw. I want indicate according to rules as I mentioned, and I will do this in free translation, we do say that the time of answer the minister should correspond roughly to the time that was put for the question. In most cases, the question came in under time. I can assure the honourable member of been keeping track of this and I will continue to do so and I will endeavour to make sure that the members time is entirely respected. The honourable Minister has 15 minutes. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will provide 10 minutes of remarks and will welcome questions from my Parliamentary Secretary. Using my time to discuss measures and the recent budget to combat crime, especially auto theft and money laundering. I will also touch on investments and provide an update of our work on online safety. [ Speaking French ] >> Voice of Interpreter: Mr. Speaker, car theft is a very serious issue affecting communities throughout Canada. Not only does this affect Canadian financial situation but also because of a car theft, people feel less safe. Car thefts are on the rise. In some regions -- in some regions, they are increasingly violent. Criminals are becoming increasingly bold. We are committed to ensuring that police and attorneys have the necessary authority to intervene in car theft, especially organized crime related car theft. We want to ensure that legislation gives courts the necessary authority to impose sentences that match the severity of the crime. We are committed to fighting car theft but we can do even more. [ End of Interpretation ] >> We are amending the criminal code to provide additional measures for law enforcement and prosecutors to address auto theft. Bill C-69, the budget implementation act sets out these proposed measures. These amendments would include, Mr. Chair, new offensive targeting auto theft and its links to violence and organized crime, new offensive for possession and distribution of a device used for committing auto theft such as heat programming machines and a new offensive for laundering proceeds of crime for the benefits of at the direction of or in association with a criminal organization. And we are proposing a new aggregating factor at sentencing. Applied to an adult offender who involves a young person in the commission of the crime work these changes are part of the larger federal action plan on combating auto sector that was just released on May 20th. [ Speaking French ] >> Voice of Interpreter: Car theft is a complex crime. Fighting car theft involves many partners including the Federal Government, the provincial governments government, territorial governments,

miscible governments, industry leaders and law enforcement agencies. I will now turn to the related issue of money laundering. Addressing money laundering will help us to combat organized crime, including its involvement in automobile theft. However, the challenges associated with money laundering and organized go beyond auto theft. [ Speaking French ] >> Voice of Interpreter: That's why we are continually reviewing our laws so Canada can fight money laundering, organized crime and terrorist financing more effectively. >> Give us more tools to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. These new measures would allow court to issue an order that requires a person to keep an account opened to assist in the investigation of a suspected criminal offence. Currency, financial service providers often unilaterally close accounts where they suspect criminal activity. This can hinder police investigations. This new proposed order would help in that regard. I hope to see nonpartisan support from all parties including the official opposition on these measures to address organized crime. It would be nice to see them support something rather than simply use empty slogans or block actual solutions. We see this as well in their efforts to block Bill C-69, the fall economic statement which has literally been in this chamber for months. That's also contains a range of measures to combat money-laundering which has been asked for by law enforcement. For a party that prides itself on house being a relationship with law enforcement -- [ Speaking French ] >> Voice of Interpreter: In addition, and Bill C-69, courts would be authorized to issue a production order for several specific days through a repetitive production order. This would allow law enforcement to require a person to provide specific information in support of an investigation into a criminal event on several predetermined days on a defined period of time. A person would have to provide specific information over a defined period of time. These two proposals are the result of our governments public consultations last summer. We are committed to having Bill C-69 passed by Parliament in a timely fashion so that the new measures are in place as quickly as possible to fight these serious crimes as soon as possible. [ End of Interpretation ] >> We now like to discuss investments in legal aid. Just as we need to protect people from crime, we need to make sure people have equal access to justice which is an equal part of a fair and just society. A strongly late system is a key aspect of this. It strengthens the overall justice system. This is why budget 2024 includes measures to increase funding to legal aid as well as legal aid for immigrants and refugees to Canada. Budget 2024 provides $440 million over five years starting in 2024/25. This will support access to justice for Canadians unable to pay for legal support, in particular indigenous people, individuals who are black and other racialized communities overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Indeed legal representation helps. Backlogs and delays in our system. This essential work is only possible with continued collaboration between Federal, provincial and territorial governments. The proposed increase to the federal contribution will assist the provinces and territories to take further actions to increase access to justice. This legal aid will help with the backlogs I just mentioned. Unrepresented and poorly represented because delays in our justice system. Making sure these individuals have proper support and representation will help ensure access to a speedy trial. This in combination with our unprecedented piece of judicial appointments, 106 appointments my first nine months in office will also address backlogs. With comparison, the previous Harper government would appoint 65 judges per year on average. I exceeded that amount in six months. Budget 2024 provides $273.7 million over five years starting in 2022, 24, 25 and 43 and a half million dollars per year on going after that. This funding will help support access to justice for economically disadvantaged asylum-seekers and others involved in immigration proceedings. This investment will help maintain the confidence of Canadians and the government's ability to manage immigration levels and resettle and integrate refugees into Canadian society. To do this very important work, Justice Canada continues to collaborate with provincial governments and legal aid service providers as well as Immigration, Refugees and

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