Today: May 30, 2022

Today: May 30, 2022

By Andrew Thomson | UPDATED May 30, 2022 5:25pmET

Government releases major review of military sexual misconduct

Civilian criminal courts should again have exclusive jurisdiction over criminal sexual offences within the Canadian armed forces, according to former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour, whose final report and recommendations on military sexual misconduct was made public today. 

Defence Minister Anita Anand said she accepts the final report in its "entirety" and will appoint an external monitor to oversee implementation of the recommendations. She also pledged to notify Parliament by the end of 2022 of any recommendations not being implemented. 

Arbour had released interim recommendations in October 2021.

Watch Arbour, Anand, and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre at an Ottawa news conference (no interpretation):

Watch opposition reaction from NDP, Conservative, and Bloc Québécois MPs:

In the House: Firearms Bill 

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has tabled firearms legislation in the House of Commons that includes a ban on the purchase, sale, transfer of importation of handguns.

Mendocino joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Justice Minister David Lametti, and other cabinet ministers for a news conference (no interpretation): 

The 2021 Liberal platform pledged:

  • a mandatory buy-back program for "banned assault weapons by making it mandatory for owners to either sell the firearm back to the government for destruction and fair compensation or have it rendered fully and permanently inoperable at government expense";
  • a crack down on high-capacity magazines and a requirement that long gun magazines capable of holding more than five rounds be permanently altered "so that they can never hold more than five rounds";
  • a ban on the "sale or transfer of magazines that could hold more than a legal number of bullets, regardless of how they were intended to be used by the manufacturer";
  • at least $1 billion to support provinces or territories implementing a handgun ban.

Mendicino's public mandate letter from Trudeau included an instruction to "introduce 'Red flag' laws to allow the immediate removal of firearms if that person is a threat to themselves or others, particularly to their spouse or partner, and increasing maximum penalties for firearms trafficking and smuggling."

The Liberal government's previous firearms legislation expired when the 43rd Parliament dissolved last summer. 

Bill C-21 included introducing a voluntary buyback program for banned "assault-style" weapons, increased criminal penalties for gun smuggling and trafficking, and allowing for municipalities to ban handguns.

The buyback program would have offered fair market value for the 1,500 types of military-grade assault-style weapons banned in May 2020. C-21 would have allowed owners to keep those prohibited weapons, subject to conditions that includes no permitted use, no import, no further acquisition, no sale, and no bequeathal.

Outburst: Should private ownership of handguns be phased out in Canada?

In the House: Question Period, Online News Legislation, Intimate Partner Violence

Watch question period as the House of Commons returns to sit after a one-week break -- the last pause before MPs depart for the summer.

Also on Monday's agenda:

Second reading (including a time allocation motion) on Bill C-18, which would require web giants such as Facebook and Google to compensate Canadian media organizations for the sharing of their news content. 

C-18 would establish a framework for media outlets to negotiate deals with online platforms. Outlets would also be allowed to team up with other news companies for collective bargaining. Platforms that fail to comply with the new law could face financial penalties. 

Debate began earlier this month with Liberals arguing commercial agreements between digital platforms and media companies would satisfy the public interest by meeting six "public and transparent" criteria:

  • fair compensation
  • production of local, regional, and national news content
  • maintenance of freedom of expression and journalistic integrity
  • contribution to news market sustainability
  • ensuring that benefits flow to a "significant portion" of independent local news outlets
  • involvement of a "range of news outlets that reflect the diversity of the Canadian news marketplace." 

In response, the opposition Conservatives questions included:

  • whether C-18 will benefit small- and medium-sized media organizations;
  • whether the CRTC is the proper body to oversee agreements involving online platforms;
  • how much it will cost to administer the regulations;
  • how a bargaining code of conduct will be developed and whether it will be tabled in Parliament;
  • whether non-Canadian news providers will benefit from the Canadian system.

MPs also defeated (202 to 127) the Conservative motion calling for the government to "immediately revert to pre-pandemic rules and service levels for travel" in the wake of major delays at Canadian airports. 

Second-reading votes took place on the government's official languages bill (C-13). 

And the House considered committee amendments to a private member's bill on intimate partner violence and coercive control.

Bill C-233 would require judges to consider use of an electronic monitoring device when releasing someone charged with an offence against their intimate partner.

In the House: Questioning the Minister

Meanwhile, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray faces an evening of questions on her department's budget and plan for coming year.

Each fiscal year the Official Opposition chooses two departments for an estimates review in Committee of the Whole. (They must be held by May 31; Public Works and Government Services Canada was considered on May 19.)

Ministers or their parliamentary secretaries appear in the House of Commons chamber for up to four hours. 

The ministerial sessions stem from a standing order adopted by the House in 2001, allowing the Opposition to choose two federal departments or agencies for review by a Committee of the Whole.

According to House of Commons Procedure and Practice, the new custom would permit “a more meaningful examination of government estimates” and confirm “the financial oversight role of the House of Commons.”

The corresponding minister or parliamentary secretary sits in the front row of the government benches and prepares to act as a witness.

Outsiders are almost never allowed to walk beyond the Bar of the House, but in this case a small number of department officials are permitted to sit near the minister to provide advice.

Committees of the Whole date back to the 1500s and the creation of the committee system in England’s Parliament.

Major bills were debated in a less restrictive forum than formal proceedings of the House of Commons overseen by a Speaker.

Canadian legislatures adopted the custom with little change until 1968, when the current system of standing committees was established.

Today, the House of Commons switches to this less formal setting on rare occasions. One notable example: the 2008 official apology to residential school victims.

Sitting in a Committee of the Whole allowed First Nations representatives to sit on the floor of the Commons and deliver remarks after the prime minister and opposition leaders spoke.

The Speaker leaves their customary chair and moves to the Clerk’s seat at the main table on the Commons floor.

In Committee

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and Infrastructure Minister Dominic Leblanc appear at the Commons transport committee as part of the estimates process. 11am ET / 8am PT

Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould faces questions on passport application service standards when she goes before the human resources committee. 12pm ET / 9am PT

Also today:

Maj.-Gen. Paul Prévost (Director of Staff, Strategic Joint Staff) and Maj.-Gen. Conrad Mialkowski (Deputy Commander, Canadian Army) appear at the Standing Committee on National Defence for questions on domestic military operations. 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT

The finance committee considers amendments to the budget implementation bill (C-19). 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT

The heritage committee returns to Bill C-11 and proposed changes to the Broadcasting Act. 11am ET / 8am PT and 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT

The natural resources committee continues to host testimony on Canada's "energy transformation" and shift to a low-carbon economy. MPs hear from the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, Metis Settlements General Council, National Coalition of Chiefs, and Indian Resource Council Inc. 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT

The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying hears from another group of witnesses. 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT

On the Senate side, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino faces questions on Bill S-7 when he appears at the national security committee. 2pm ET / 11am PT

S-7 would allow Canada Border Services Agency officers to search a person's digital devices if there is a "reasonable general concern" of regulations being broken; Independent Senator Paula Simons wrote last week that the government wants to create a subjective and vague threshold for searching personal property. 

According to Simons, Bill S-7:

will put the privacy rights of thousands of Canadian travellers in real jeopardy, opening the door to emotionally intrusive and potentially embarrassing searches of our banking records, our health data, our dating histories, our photographs, our professional confidential documents. This “novel” legal threshold is going to create confusion, not clarity, for many border officers. And it will undoubtedly become the subject of passionate litigation almost as soon as it’s applied.

Senator Gwen Boniface, who sponsored S-7 in the upper chamber, argued last month during second-reading debate that:

This reasonable general concern examination authority includes specific purpose limitations, ensuring that the examination must be regulatory in nature and will be limited to what is stored on the device at the time of the border crossing.

Today in Politics Podcast: Mark Sutcliffe and Peter Van Dusen

Tougher gun legislation could be introduced as early as today. Conservative leadership candidates are in the final stages of signing up members. And Ontario voters are just days away from the provincial election.