“I want to make you look like the bad guy. I will say you are blocking our bail plan and hurting law enforcement. I will not address any of your points or questions. I will only try to make you look bad.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
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Bail and Sentencing Reform Act
A bill to change how criminal sentencing works for non-citizens. During discussion, MPs debated bail and sentencing rules but also spent real time on their own election promises, internal party disputes, and arguing with each other's past records.
“I'm trying to pick a fight. The other guy said I don't answer questions. I'll demand he answer mine. He must be hiding something if he won't say what police think. Police like our bill so he must be wrong.”
“I want the Senate's change to the start date. Why should we do that?”
“I'm filling time by listing many bills my party proposed. I'm disappointed other parties won't pass everything we want. I want voters to think my party is tough on crime.”
“You're a hypocrite. You did the same thing when your leader was in power. You say one thing in opposition and another when you're in government. Plus, you can't blame this Prime Minister for everything. We have new MPs now.”
“I want you to agree that our government is doing a good job on crime. We made promises and now we have bills with numbers. Please say that these bills with numbers are good and we're keeping our promises.”
“I don't want you to think we're just keeping promises because we wrote them down. We really do care about crime. We're doing lots of stuff! All of my party agrees this is important.”
“I want to talk around the fact that I don't have a real answer. Let me spew some filler about shared responsibility and the importance of leadership. I'll avoid the actual question about whether our bill's consecutive sentences will work.”
“I want to talk about how important it is to pass my bill. I will say a lot about the parts of my own bill, then some about changes from the Senate. First, I will claim this isn't about party. Every Canadian wants to be safe. Every Canadian is tired of seeing criminals out instead of behind bars. I will tell a story about a tragic crime in my riding. People are outraged the criminal is out on bail. My bill would stop this. It would stop judges letting people out too soon. It would add stronger penalties in some cases. All of this is very good and very needed. For Senate changes, some are good and others not. One the Conservatives don't like is actually very important. Judges need discretion. Mandatory minimums failed because they don't give judges discretion. I will talk about enforcement and prisons too. If we get laws and enforcement right, fewer people will be in prison. That is why we need my bill passed fast. Then violent criminals won't be out with sentences I consider inadequate. I am very proud of this bill and another one I worked on. The government is serious about crime.”
“I don't like your question. I'm not going to answer it. I talked to the Prime Minister. The party knows what I think. They still let me join. I'm happy to be on their team. I used to say their old policies were bad. Now I say this new bill fixes that. So it must pass.”