Defending Criminals, Not Communities: The New Liberal Criminal Justice Legislation
Plus donating my parliamentary pay raise, AstraZeneca Confusion, Suez Canal blockage, Access to Information Requests, Conservatives sanctioned by China, and the new CP Rail merger.
I Will Be Opposing Bill C-22; I Believe in Defending Communities, not Criminals
Recently, the Liberal government tabled Bill C-22, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. They have hailed this legislation as an important step in combatting racism, and, in the words of Justice Minister David Lametti, by producing a “more effective justice system.”
How do they intend on achieving this? In part, by repealing mandatory minimum sentencing for certain firearm offences, as well as the trafficking, importation or exportation of controlled substances. Minister Lametti’s own Parliamentary Secretary, Arif Virani, said that C-22 would help “keep Canadians safe in our communities” by shifting the focus of the justice system onto “the firearms traffickers or drug traffickers” instead of low-level offenders. Then, in the same legislation, they proceed to do away with mandatory minimum sentencing for drug and weapons traffickers. If Minister Lametti and his parliamentary secretary understand that drug and weapons traffickers pose a risk to Canadian communities, why are they working to limit the amount of time these offenders spend behind bars? If the Liberals believe that “more effective justice” is achieved by letting those who prey on the vulnerable back into society as soon as possible, I would suggest that they add an additional $9 to the ever-growing national debt by investing in a dictionary to discover what the words “effective” and “justice” actually mean.
Unfortunately, it does not stop there.
Bill C-22 also seeks to add a variety of new offences onto the list of those eligible for conditional sentencing. Conditional sentencing allows a convicted offender to avoid jail time and remain in the public through means such as house arrest. While encouraging the rehabilitation and reintegration of remorseful offenders into society is certainly an important aspect of the justice system, some of the offences that the Liberals are looking to make eligible for conditional sentencing are downright head-scratching. These include sexual assault, kidnapping, trafficking in person - material benefit, abduction of person under fourteen, motor vehicle theft, and arson for fraudulent purpose. The idea that someone who steals a car, commits fraud-by-arson, or abducts a child could be sentenced by a judge to mere house arrest should certainly raise some red flags.
This is not the first time that the Liberals have introduced legislation that lessens the penalty for serious crimes. Back in 2019, Bill C-75 reclassified a number of offences as “hybrid offences”, making them eligible for summary conviction with a maximum penalty of two years less a day rather than ten years, and I rose in the House to share my concerns. In that instance, some of the crimes reclassified included concealing the body of a child, infanticide, and abduction of a person under the age of 16 and 14. Provisions such as these in C-75 and the ones proposed in C-22 do not help to secure our communities, nor do they address any identifiable social wrongs. It is important to note that many of the mandatory minimums that the Liberals are now looking to eliminate were in fact introduced under past Liberal governments. This latest Liberal law eliminates mandatory prison time for criminals who commit robbery with a firearm, who traffic weapons, and who commit drive-by shootings. It removes mandatory minimums for criminals who prey on those with addictions. It creates a possibility where an individual convicted of sexual assault could serve their sentence at home in the same neighbourhood as their victim. Those are not the hallmarks of a “more effective justice system.” Rather than disconnecting convicted criminals from gangs and rehabilitating them through the justice system, C-22 looks to create a revolving door for career criminals to be released back into the public. This is the opposite of responsible law-making and is part of a soft-on-crime trend from the Liberal government.
The Liberals are trying to dramatically reimagine our justice system in the middle of a pandemic under the guise of combatting racism. Alberta’s Justice Minister Kaycee Madu put it best when he said that it is “disingenuous for Ottawa to exploit a genuine issue like systemic racism to push through their soft-on-crime bills.”
When the time comes, I will be opposing Bill C-22 in its current form
Donating My Parliamentary Pay Raise
Albertans have persevered through times of economic hardship and uncertainty stemming from governments forced shutdown of the economy due to COVID-19. Countless Albertans have lost their jobs, had their salaries and wages cut, or their hours reduced. This coming on top of the economic destruction caused by low oil prices in March 2020 and hostile federal policies towards Alberta. No one is immune from the financial challenges we have faced over the past year.
Legislative changes made by the Liberal Paul Martin government in 2005 mandates the indexation of salaries and allowances for public service workers, as well as for MPs and Senators, based on the average percentage increase of base-rate wages in Canada for each fiscal year. This was a good legislative initiative to stop politicians from voting themselves raises. The side effect to making it automatic is a loss of direct control during a crisis. This means that every MP will receive a scheduled, automatic pay raise on April 1, 2021. I am unable to decline the pay raise or to redirect it. I am also not given an opportunity to vote on it or debate the matter directly and the Liberal government has chosen not to address the issue through legislation.
I understand the financial hardship faced by my neighbours and residents of Calgary Shepard in these prolonged difficult times. I have chosen to donate the entirety of my salary increase to charities and charitable causes. Albertans have been forced to endure hardships and made sacrifices above anything experienced in the past generation.
AstraZeneca: Where are We Now
The Liberals have completely bungled the vaccine rollout and poorly communicated on the AstraZeneca vaccine. Initially, Health Canada approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for all Canadians, despite concerns from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the expert panel in Canada on COVID-19 vaccinations, about the vaccine’s effectiveness. NACI provides recommendations on vaccine use, but the final approval rests with Health Canada. On March 2, 2021, Conservative members of the Health Committee called for an emergency meeting to discuss the NACI recommendation. On March 15, 2021, NACI announced that they were reversing their recommendation made earlier this March against administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to Canadians over the age of 65.
On March 29, 2021, NACI recommended a pause on the use of AstraZeneca vaccine due to safety concerns surrounding blood clotting. Chief Medical Officers of Health paused the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Canadians under 55 while Health Canada completes its updated risk/benefit analysis based on emerging data. On April 1, 2021, Health Canada gave the batch of AstraZeneca vaccines coming in from the United States the green light. This is a communications and rollout disaster. The Liberals need to be crystal clear with Canadians on the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine and release accompanying data to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
The Ottawa Liberals are solely responsible for vaccine approvals and procurement. For weeks, Conservatives have been calling for clarity from the Ottawa Liberals on their recommendations surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine. Vaccines are the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, and Conservatives understand that constantly shifting advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine could lead to increased vaccine hesitancy. Countries around the world are well on their way to vaccinating large amounts of their population, Canada’s vaccine rollout continues to be slow and chaotic.
Pushing for Answers on Access to Information Requests
On March 23, 2021, I sent a letter to the ethics committee chair to inform him that the federal government had violated the Access to Information Act 21 times on requests from my office. These ranged from requests for information on American tariff assessments, discussions and recommendations on diplomatic relations with Taiwan, funding records outlining Canada’s commitment to combating human trafficking, and documents related to an RFI for the quarantine hotels, and countless others. Transparency in government communication and citizen access to information held by the government when making decisions is the cornerstone of our democracy. As a legislator, it is my duty to study legislation and to ferret out the truth in parliamentary committees and through access to information requests. Over a one-year time span, my office filed 236 access to information requests with several government departments, a quarter of what the Canadian Taxpayers Federation files annually. I anticipate the ethics committee will look unfavorably on the federal government’s negligence in producing information as required by law and in stark contradiction to the explicit direction given by the President of the Treasury Board in May 2020 that access to information requests, even during the pandemic, was an essential service. I encourage you to read my letter and to participate in Canada’s democracy by filing an access to information of your own to have the federal government produce information of interest to you.
A Wrench in the Global Supply Chain: Suez Canal Blockage
After six long days of around-the-clock effort, the Japanese-owned container ship “Ever Given” was finally dislodged from the Suez Canal earlier this week. Early reports have stated that a combination of high winds and an accompanying sandstorm managed to turn the boat sideways in the canal; however, the Suez Canal Authority has hinted that human error and/or technical issues may have also played a role in getting the ship stuck. Weighing over 200,0000 tonnes (that’s more than 130,000 Ford Escapes) and measuring in just over 400m long, the supersized cargo vessel became trapped in the canal after running aground near the village of Manshiyet Rugola, effectively shutting down the flow of goods through one of the world’s most vital marine transitways.
This event marks the first time since the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War that sea-traffic has come to a halt in the canal, and the economic impact of this shutdown will be immense. The Suez Canal is a conduit for nearly 12% of all global trade with many of the delayed ships carrying natural resources, consumer products, and perishable goods. At the time of the Ever Given’s dislodging, over 400 cargo vessels had been backed up – the average rate of traffic in the waterway is around 50 ships a day. Businesses in the riding have also had their supply chains disrupted.
Only time will tell what the ramifications of this event will be. There will most certainly be a litany of lawsuits filed over the coming weeks and months. The Suez Canal blockage is yet another reminder of how fragile international trade networks can be and underlines the importance of diversifying Canadian distribution chains to new markets around the world.
Conservatives Pass Motion to Recognize Genocide is Being Carried out by the Chinese Communist Party, MPs get banned from China
In 1985, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney stood before the United Nations and condemned the South African government’s policy of apartheid. To Mulroney, apartheid "desecrated international standards of morality and aroused universal revulsion". This moment cemented Canada’s position as an ardent defender of human rights and democratic values on the world stage. However, our current government has failed in living up to those standards. Since 2014, the People’s Republic of China has detained over one million Uyghur Muslims in internment camps, in which they are used for forced labour, and women have been forcibly sterilized and assaulted. When the House of Commons passed a motion calling on Parliament to recognize the genocide being carried out by the People’s Republic of China against the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, the Liberal cabinet failed to even attend the vote, sending Foreign Minister Garneau to abstain on their behalf. This was an abdication of moral leadership.
In response to the tireless work done by Conservatives to speak out against China’s atrocious human rights record, Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Michael Chong was sanctioned from China. The Chinese government also sanctioned all members of the House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights that recently tabled a report which concluded that China’s treatment of its Uyghur population is genocide. Conservatives will always stand for Canadian values at home and abroad.
Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern Merger: Great News for Calgarians
Canadian Pacific Rail, headquartered in Ogden, employs a large number of Calgary Shepard constituents. On March 21, 2021 Canadian Pacific Rail announced its merger with Kansas City Southern Lines. CP Rail will acquire Kansa Southern Lines for an estimated $29 billion USD. This merger will create the first rail network connecting Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The combined network will create jobs, deliver expanded market reach, and achieve meaningful environmental benefits.