Public Safety

During question period on public safety, members debated Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, 2026, which would update police and security agencies’ powers to obtain digital data during investigations and create a framework for accessing information held by electronic service providers. Conservatives said the government had broken a promise to work collaboratively on the bill, argued it goes too far in expanding surveillance, and proposed passing the parts dealing with police tools while studying Part 2 separately. Liberals responded that the bill was comprehensive, had involved consultation with stakeholders including law enforcement, that Parts 1 and 2 go together and cannot be split, and said modern tools are needed to fight terrorism and organized crime, accusing the Conservatives of slowing the bill in committee.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

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5 statements

Jacob Mantle, York—Durham

Conservative
“The Liberals broke their promise to work with us on this surveillance bill. Police need tools to investigate online crime, but this bill goes too far. I want the government to accept our compromise to pass only the parts of the bill we agree on and keep debating the rest.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it was all fake, all an illusion. Liberal promises to work together on Bill C-22 were hollow from the start. The Liberals will ram through the largest government surveillance operation in a generation. The Minister of Public Safety promised better. He promised he would work collaboratively, promised he would listen and promised he would take amendments. He is breaking those promises. Police need the tools to catch the bad guys in a digital era, obviously. That is why we proposed a solid compromise: pass the uncontroversial parts of the bill, and continue debating the others. Will they take that offer?

Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety

Liberal
“This is not how passing laws works. We introduced a detailed bill.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, this is not how legislation works. We have put forward a comprehensive piece of legislation— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety

Liberal

Linked statement

“We need to pass this whole bill together, not just pick parts of it. The Conservatives are wasting time in committee and slowing it down.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, this is not how legislation works. We have put forward a comprehensive piece of legislation. We have consulted with a range of stakeholders, including law enforcement. Parts 1 and 2 go hand in hand. We cannot cherry-pick which parts of the act go into effect. I will give an example of the obstructionism of the Conservative Party: over 10 hours of discussion on clause-by-clause at the committee, and they have passed seven amendments. Just last week alone, over three hours, they passed one amendment, and in fact, the key leaders on the committee were not even—

Frank Caputo, Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola

Conservative
“Canadians worry this bill gives the government too much power to watch them. Experts say we should pass the first part and study the second part more closely. Why will the government not do that?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, “this is not how legislation works.” That is what the minister just said. Allow me to tell him something. Canadians do not take their orders from the Liberal Party. Conservatives do not take their orders from the Liberal Party. We will scrutinize legislation as we see fit. We have heard from Canadians concerned about big brother aspects of this bill. We have heard from civil libertarians, experts, law professors who say we should be passing part 1 and scrutinizing part 2. Why will they not pass part 1 and study part 2?

Ruby Sahota, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)

Liberal
“We need this bill because it gives police modern tools to fight terrorism and organized crime. The Conservatives are opposing it just to oppose everything.”
  • Government answer in Question Period

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, this Conservative opposition is not about scrutinizing bills. We are up for scrutiny. We have amended many of our bills, including Bill C-22. Bill C-22 is a bill that we in Parliament have tried to bring many times because, as I know the Conservatives recognize, we need modern tools to fight terrorism and to fight organized crime, but these Conservatives do not really care. They will oppose anything. Just last week, they opposed harsher sentences for child predators. Who are these people?

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