Author: Nate Erskine-Smith

Bill C-293 Private Member’s Bill 44th Parliament, 1st Session

This enactment enacts the Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act to require the Minister of Health to establish, in consultation with other ministers, a pandemic prevention and preparedness plan, which is to include information provided by those ministers.

It also amends the Department of Health Act to provide that the Minister of Health must appoint a national pandemic prevention and preparedness coordinator from among the officials of the Public Health Agency of Canada to coordinate the activities under the Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act.

Madam Speaker, I am introducing the pandemic prevention and preparedness act because the last two years have been impossibly hard for all of us. The costs of prevention and preparedness are insignificant in comparison with the significant human and economic costs of a pandemic. The purpose of this act is to prevent the risk of, and prepare for, future pandemics and to promote transparency and accountability toward that goal.

    Specifically, the bill would require the health minister to collaborate with other ministers, other levels of government and indigenous communities to develop a pandemic prevention and preparedness plan and table an updated plan in Parliament on a regular basis. There are factors that the minister would have to consider in the course of that plan, and those factors are informed by UNEP, IPIS, the independent panel and other experts. The minister would also have to establish an advisory committee to review and learn the lessons of our COVID response, and appoint a national pandemic prevention and preparedness coordinator.

    We need to do all that we can to prevent and prepare for future pandemics, and this bill would ensure that this obligation remains in focus for any future government in the years ahead.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

Bill C-247 Private Member’s Bill, 44th Parliament, 1st Session

This enactment establishes prohibitions and offences for certain activities involving fur farming.

Mr. Speaker, commercial fur farming is cruel to the animals that face horrible conditions every day, and it poses a real risk to human health, including pandemic risk. Many countries have already put an end to this practice and Canada should do the same. Animal science experts describe the filthy and cramped conditions as inherently inhumane. Infectious disease experts describe commercial fur farming as a hazardous practice that poses serious risks to human health because of the transmission of viruses between animals and people, and the very real threat of viral mutations.

    In phasing out mink farming, B.C.’s provincial health officer declared it a “health hazard”. It is not only B.C., of course. The U.K. banned commercial fur farming over two decades ago, and many other countries have implemented similar bans since. It is now time for Canada to end the cruel and dangerous practice of commercial fur farming, and that is exactly what this legislation would do.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

Bill C-235 Private Member’s Bill 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session

This enactment amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to repeal a provision that makes it an offence to possess certain substances.

It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts.

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Canadians have died because of the opioid crisis. For the first time in 40 years, according to Statistics Canada, our life expectancy has stalled, and Statistics Canada attributes that to the opioid crisis. It is a national public health crisis.

    This bill would delete the possession offence completely from the CDSA, not for trafficking or producing but for people who need our help. We should treat patients as patients and not as criminals. The bill’s focus is fundamentally to end stigma.

     Canada’s public health efforts highlight the importance of ending the stigma that surrounds people who use drugs. Of course, the criminal sanction is the primary stigma in our society.

     Decriminalization in other countries has increased the number of people seeking treatment by 60%, and it is supported in Canada by the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian Public Health Association and public health experts across our country.

    The bill, if passed, will save lives.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹

Bill C-236 Private Member’s Bill 43rd Parliament, 1st Session

This enactment amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to require peace officers to consider measures other than judicial proceedings to deal with individuals alleged to have been in possession of certain substances. It also sets out principles to be taken into account in the determination of the most appropriate measures to take.

Mr. Speaker, we need to treat drug use as a health issue in the context of the opioid crisis if we want to save lives.

     I will not shy away from advocating for decriminalization, but I am aware that early on in this Parliament, I have this opportunity to introduce a bill that will be debated and voted on. In the context of the opioid crisis that has taken so many lives, I want to ensure that a measure is passed that will improve our laws and will help Canadians in need.

    To that end, while the bill would not decriminalize drugs, it would ensure there would be an evidence-based diversion framework, a principles-based framework, built on public health principles in our national drug strategy and principles embraced and adopted at the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

    The bill is also built on the successful model of the Youth Criminal Justice Act at home. It would require police and prosecutors to ensure, before they move forward with charges, that they consider whether it is sufficient to give a warning or to refer an individual in need to a public health agency and provider.

    Again, the evidence from the Youth Criminal Justice Act is clear. We will alleviate unfairness in the criminal justice system, we will help people in need and we will save lives.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

Bill C-460 Private Member’s Bill 42nd Parliament, 1st Session

This enactment amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to repeal a provision that makes it an offence to possess certain substances.

It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts.

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Canadians continue to die because of the ongoing opioid crisis. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, its most recent numbers indicate that since January 2016, over 11,000 Canadians have died. For the first time in decades, our life expectancy in Canada has stalled, and it is because of the opioid crisis. It is a public health crisis, and public health experts across the country are unanimous in calling for drug use to be treated as a health issue. That means expanding harm reduction and treatment options, which this government has done, but it also means removing the criminal sanction for low-level possession, because we know that the number one stigma associated with seeking treatment is the criminal sanction.

    It does not mean removing the criminal sanction for producing or trafficking, but for personal use by the very people we want to help, it means treating patients as patients and not as criminals. That is exactly what this bill seeks to do by removing the criminal sanction for low-level possession. It is a necessary next step in following the evidence to save lives. If I am re-elected, it will be the first bill I reintroduce.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

Bill C-454 Private Member’s Bill 42nd Parliament, 1st Session

This enactment requires the Government of Canada to ensure that Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to net zero by 2050.

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions bill. This government has made significant and meaningful progress to tackle climate change, but greater ambition is now required to meet our national, intergenerational and our moral obligations. Science demands greater action.

     The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change notes, “in model pathways with no or limited overshoot of 1.5°C, global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions declined by about 45% from the 2010 levels by 2030, reaching net-zero by 2050.”

     Our international allies are already undertaking this difficult work. The U.K., in early May, published a road map to net-zero by 2050. The EU Commission, and EU Parliament, have adopted the same standards.

     We have made important progress such as price on pollution, phasing out coal, slashing methane emissions, significant investments in public transit, clean energies and more, but the science demands greater ambition. That is why the bill is so important.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

C-413 Private Member’s Bill 42nd Parliament, 1st session

This enactment amends the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act to expand the grounds on which the Privacy Commissioner may decide not to investigate a complaint. It also authorizes the Privacy Commissioner to make orders directing an organization to take any action that, in the Commissioner’s opinion, is reasonable to ensure compliance with the organization’s obligations under the Act. Finally, this enactment provides that an organization that is found to have failed to comply with certain obligations under the Act is liable to a fine.

The bill aims to implement our parliamentary privacy committee’s unanimous recommendations to strengthen the enforcement powers of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, including the power to make orders, and broader discretion to audit organizations for compliance with our laws. What we have is an ombudsman. What we need is a regulator. The bill also provides for significant financial sanctions where organizations intentionally or recklessly breach our privacy rights. Where organizations obtain a financial benefit from using our personal information, they should suffer a financial loss when they misuse our personal information. If we take privacy seriously, we need both strong rules and a strong privacy regulator.

– Nate Erskine–Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

C-246 Private Member’s Bill 42nd Parliament, 1st Section

An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Fisheries Act, the Textile Labelling Act, the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act and the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (animal protection).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the modernizing animal protections act, a bill to help bring our country’s animal welfare laws into the 21st century.

    The bill addresses three specific and achievable goals. First, it aims to end the cruel practice of shark finning by banning the importation of shark fins. Second, it aims to strengthen and modernize our Criminal Code, from closing loopholes related to animal fighting to introducing a gross negligence offence for animal cruelty, as proposed by former Liberal governments, through the Hon. Anne McLellan and Irwin Cotler. Third, it aims to ban the sale of cat and dog fur in Canada and to require source fur labelling.

    Canadians across our country, from farmers to pet owners, care about animal welfare. We expect our leaders and our legislators to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

    Our government ran on a platform of fairness, and the bill directly addresses the fair treatment of animals in our society.

– Nate Erskine-Smith, introducing the bill 📹.

Status: Defeated at 2nd Reading