October 2025: GO Trains, Safer Streets and Community Spirit

ans two-way, all-day GO service is coming soon. This is a huge win for our community. Grateful to Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria , Mike Harris , and Jess Dixon for being the government to deliver a milestone that truly matters to our community. Way to GO, Kitchener! #kitchener #gotransit

that no longer puts public safety first. After a summer of violent crime and eroded trust in our public safety, Canadians are demanding swift action and they have every right to do so. Across this country, violent crime is up 55%. Firearms offences from non-law-abiding citizens have surged by 130%, and extortion has skyrocketed by 330%. These are not just statistics. They represent shattered lives, grieving families and communities living in fear. This crisis did not happen by accident. In 2019, the Liberal government passed Bill C-75, which forced judges to release offenders at the earliest possible opportunity under the least restrictive conditions. As a result, there is a revolving door by which repeat violent offenders end up back on our streets. I want to be clear: This is a crisis of the Liberals' own making, and Canadians are left to live with the devastating consequences. I will be splitting my time today. We have all heard the heartbreaking stories. One that stays with me is that of Daniel Senecal. He was convicted of sexual assault, released under weakened bail laws and then accused of sexually assaulting a three-year-old child, whom we have come to know as little E. This three-year-old child has had to spend three weeks in the hospital recovering from this unimaginable, irrevocable act, and she will be scarred for life. She is a child. That is the cost of this system, which prioritizes offenders over victims. There is also Scott Weller, a victim of a violent home invasion. Scott said, “As someone who knows firsthand the trauma of a violent home invasion, I believe strongly in the need for Jail not Bail. My family was attacked in what should have been the safety of our own home. The idea that violent offenders could be released back onto our streets is terrifying—not just for us, but for every Canadian family.” Scott's words are powerful. They remind us that public safety must come first, that the rights of victims and families must come before the rights of violent offenders. The Toronto Police Association put it plainly: “The proposed ideas will put victims and communities first, restoring the balance that is desperately needed at a time when youth violence and gun crimes are out of control and innocent victims are paying the ultimate price.” This is why Conservatives are introducing Bill C-242, the jail not bail act. The bill would restore accountability, protect communities and put victims first. I will bring this closer to my riding in Kitchener. In the region of Waterloo, in 2024 alone, there were 3,896 undertakings and 2,334 releases. That is a 61% release rate. This means that the majority of the accused individuals were sent back into our neighbourhoods. What is even more troubling is that approximately 50% of the charges brought forward by the Waterloo Regional Police are not being pursued by Crown prosecution. That is half of these cases gone. They are not prosecuted; they are gone. Of those released on an undertaking or release order in 2023 and 2024, 20% were found to be in disregard of the terms of their release. What is worse is that more than half of those offenders were caught multiple times. These are the repeat offenders we need off our streets. I received an email today from Anke, a 76-year-old woman in my community. She told me that she is nervous to walk around her community in broad daylight. She wants us to restore Canada to what it was, making it safe for her children and grandchildren. Families are not the only ones suffering. Businesses in the downtown core of Kitchener Centre are struggling. They are being broken into. Their customers are afraid to come downtown. The rise in crime is hurting our business community of hard-working entrepreneurs, who are trying to keep their doors open and staff safe. Public safety is economic safety, and right now both are at risk, but perhaps the most disturbing example is what happened recently in my own community: the sexual assault and attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old child. The accused was released on conditions and is still residing in the same community where that child lives. This is not okay. Our children's safety is at risk. No parent should have to live with the fear that a violent offender is living down the street. No child should be put in harm's way because our justice system has failed to act. Bill C-242, the jail not bail act, would, first, repeal the Liberal principle of restraint and replace it with a directive that public protection and safety be the primary consideration. Second, it would create a new major offences category with reverse-onus bail conditions for charges like firearm offences, sexual assault, kidnapping, human trafficking, home invasion, robbery, extortion, arson and assault. Third, it would strengthen bail laws by requiring judges to consider an accused's full criminal history and by preventing bail for anyone convicted of a major offence in the last 10 years who is now charged again. Fourth, it would toughen the risk assessment standard from “substantial likelihood” to “reasonably foreseeable”. Fifth, it would prohibit anyone with an indictable conviction from acting as a guarantor. We would enforce bail conditions on guarantors and require non-residents to surrender their passport upon request. This is not about being punitive; it is about being responsible. It is about restoring order to our streets, trust in our justice system and confidence in our communities. Conservatives are calling on all political parties to set aside political differences and to do what is right. Canadians deserve a justice system that protects them and enables them, not repeat offenders. To every victim, every family, every child, every business owner and every community that has lived through the trauma of violence, I say that Conservatives hear them. We stand with them. We are taking action. They deserve to learn, live and work in safe streets, to go to bed without worry, to know their children can play safely in their yard and their park, and to live in the Canada we lived in before the Liberals' Bill C-75, the “get out of jail free card” act. Let us restore justice. Let us restore confidence in public safety. Let us pass Bill C-242, the jail not bail act.

the member across the aisle support Bill C-242, the jail not bail act?

nders are released, only to harm again. You deserve better. You deserve safety, dignity, and peace of mind in your own community. Today, as we vote on our motion in the House of Commons, I ask others in this house to listen. This is not about politics. This is about people. About families. About the right to live without fear. Conservatives hear you. We stand with you. And we will fight to get this done, for the sake of every neighbour, every child, and every small business trying to survive and thrive in Kitchener Centre and across Canada. Let’s make our communities safer. Let’s pass this motion—together.

de rehabilitation progress in parole decisions Bill C-240 is a non-partisan bill that will help Canadians get the help they need while at the same time, go after fentanyl kingpins who destroy our communities.

hospital. You're very community-focused, and you're right in my community in Kitchener, so I have some community questions for you. What has this drug crisis in Kitchener contributed to the spread in the transmission of AROs in our community?

ad to food insecurity as well. We do know that the homeless population is more at risk for infectious disease. That includes those who are struggling with addiction. In my riding in Kitchener, I was driving by one of our encampments over the summer. Someone had passed in the encampment. I was deeply saddened by their passing, but I was even more saddened by the fact that those cleaning up his area were dressed in full haz-mat. In another story from my riding, a lady lost her son because he injected with water from our Grand River. He got an infectious disease straight from our river when he injected with that water. We've lost 53,000 people to this opioid crisis that we're facing right now. That's more people than we lost in World War II. It just seems that these failed social experiment policies are leading to more deaths in our country. I have two questions: How is this drug crisis today contributing to the infectious disease increase in Canada, and do you have any data on the actual AMR deaths contributing to what we're facing in Canada today?

ng people rebuild their lives, we must invest in accessible, immediate mental health and addiction treatment services. We need more beds, more supports, and a system that responds with urgency when someone says, ‘I’m ready to change.’ That’s the kind of rehabilitation-first approach I want to see us build across this country.

mes from my home riding, being an innovative joint replacement technology, but they can't monetize. They're having trouble scaling because of red tape bureaucracies. It's hard to scale here in Canada. Also, there was an article that came out today from CTV that said, “Warren Lovely, managing director with National Bank Financial, told BNN Bloomberg...the private sector has already lost confidence in the federal government, and the country is dependent on the U.S.” Current policy, in the past 10 years, has not been in the form to create innovation and technology in Canada, and we've lost investor confidence in this country. This has been over the past 10 years. To me, these are policy and bureaucracy problems. You even said that it's not something to throw money at. It's how we create investment. In terms of policy, what can we do to create investment here in Canada and to support our innovation and technology sector?

AI investment, but 75% of that has now gone abroad to companies not here in Canada, so our public tax dollars are funding, as you said, the futures of someone else. What specific competition-focused policies could reverse Liberal oversight, incentivize private investment and prevent IP leakage to ensure that our youth who are driving our innovation as well as our next workforce have a bright future here in Canada?