Frank Caputo

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people from Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola. I was the chief critic for the bill. I was the shadow minister as it was ushered through committee. One thing I want to say is this: The bill was overly broad. As a party, the Liberals say they love the charter. One thing that will get a bill struck down as unconstitutional is overbreadth, such as [more]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people from Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola. Even though my colleague and I are from different parties, we have often found ourselves in agreement on a number of issues. We worked on the justice committee together. I really want to address something he was speaking about at the end. I have two points to make, and I would love an on-point [more]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised 1,000 new police officers in their last election campaign. Let us talk about a broken promise. Just today, we learned that not only have they not hired those 1,000 officers, they are down 3,400 police officers. That means we are down over 4,000 police officers from what they told us we would have in the last election. At a time when crime is skyrocketing, how [more]

Mr. Speaker, he talks about the new cohort that is being hired. Is that part of the 1,000 who were promised, or the 3,400 we lost? The Liberals cannot distinguish between the two. Let us look at the stats. Violent crime is up 55%: failure. Sexual assault is up 76%: failure. Gun crime is up 130%: failure. Extortion is up 330%: failure. The only thing that is going down is the number of police [more]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Not only is the member delving into misinformation, but he is saying things that will bring the House into disorder, by saying things that are patently untrue. He should withdraw and apologize. It is disgusting.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing me to intervene. I believe that clauses 8 and 9 will no longer be required and are obsolete or redundant, given the amendments that are proposed here. As sponsor, I would urge the committee to adopt clause 8.1 and the remainder of the amendments in lieu of that. Thank you.

Thank you. It's the exact same rationale as outlined by Ms. Khalid on the last amendment.

Thank you. I appreciate that, Madam Chair. For those who don't know, section 490 of the Criminal Code is quite possibly the biggest time-waster for police officers in British Columbia. I think everybody on this committee will get a high-five from every police officer in British Columbia for this. It may mean absolutely nothing to those on the committee, but take my word for it that we are saving [more]

I just wanted to comment on Ms. Khalid's mastery of section 718.3. I'm deeply impressed.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Lattanzio. Just to be clear, this is essentially a change in form, not a change in substance. What we are doing is the exact same thing; it's just written differently. I am one person, but the Department of Justice has many lawyers, and they've said this is how we should do it. I would encourage the committee to vote in favour, and then, as a [more]

Thank you. I appreciate this. This wasn't in the original bill, but I think it really does fit with the intent. For those unaware, I was a parole officer before I went to law school, and I can tell you that the last time a life sentence was given for manslaughter was in 1972. It almost never happens, but if there is to be a life sentence for manslaughter in any context, it should be within the [more]