What they said. What they meant.

Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.

Recent debates

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Government Orders

Bail and Sentencing Reform Act

A long bill to modestly toughen some criminal sentencing and bail rules. In debate, the Liberals moved to limit discussion, accusing the opposition of stalling. The opposition accused the Liberals of ducking debate on the bill and ignoring Senate amendments.

Official Hansard ↗

David Bexte

Conservative
“I want this bill to pass quickly because it helps people. I don't like the government's lack of transparency or rushing it through the House. That's not what democracy should look like.”
Our translation 65% shorter

Kelly DeRidder

Conservative
“I want to stall this bill so I can posture about law and order at the next election. I need to drag this debate out as long as possible even if there's already agreement on most of it. I'm here to oppose and grandstand, not fix anything.”
Our translation 28% shorter

Fred Davies

Conservative
“I want the Minister of Justice to promise tougher laws against people who commit awful crimes. A young child was hurt in my riding. I brought up this issue many times before. Survivors came to Ottawa to tell their stories. They asked me why we keep letting attackers out on bail. I want them locked up and this bill is not enough. The minister must commit to more changes so it never happens again. I'm not just scoring partisan points. We need to solve this as a country.”
Our translation 45% shorter

Branden Leslie

Conservative
“I'm trying to make you look like a hypocrite for using time allocation. I want to embarrass you by quoting what your own party said about time allocation before. I don't explain why time allocation itself is actually good or bad for this bill. I just want to hit you with this gotcha quote.”
Our translation 66% shorter

Marc Dalton

Conservative
“You're wrong. Crime is bad because of you. You want us to be quiet. But we must talk and change your bill. We know what Canadians really want.”
Our translation 72% shorter

Connie Cody

Conservative
“I want longer debate on Bill C-14. I want the government to add amendments that put in stronger laws against crime. I want the government to stop limiting debate. I say the government is keeping Canadians less safe.”
Our translation 60% shorter

Dave Epp

Conservative
“The Conservative party wants the Liberal party to stop stifling debate at the health committee. I say the Liberal party is being a hypocrite. I say the Liberal party uses procedural tools to avoid debate.”
Our translation 56% shorter

Kelly DeRidder

Conservative
“I'm voting against this bill because it makes mandatory minimums optional. The government is shutting down debate to silence us and lie about our position.”
Our translation 79% shorter

Eric Melillo

Conservative
“You made a crime wave. Canadians want fixes. They want them now. We wrote a bill to lock up bad guys. You voted it down. But now you agree it's urgent. So stop talking and do something.”
Our translation 73% shorter

David Bexte

Conservative
“You Liberals caused this mess. For 11 years, you mismanaged everything. Now you suddenly want to rush. We kept offering you good ideas and you ignored them all. Now the Senate put in bad amendments with loopholes. If you really want to fix crime, take out those loopholes so the bill actually works. Then maybe Canadians can finally have safe streets again after all your delays.”
Our translation 42% shorter