Bills before Parliament

Supporters say

• Modern treaty nations have long complained that Ottawa signs agreements and then fails to implement them. An independent Commissioner provides a permanent, non-partisan accountability mechanism.
• Canada has a constitutional duty to honour its treaties. This bill ensures that duty is monitored by an officer of Parliament, not just by the government checking its own homework.
• Rather than symbolic gestures, this creates a concrete institutional change — moving reconciliation from words to enforceable accountability.

Supporters say

• Patients and doctors often cannot access or share health records across providers, clinics, and provinces. The bill would set national rules so records can move with patients, reducing delays and errors in care.
• Doctors spend too much time on paperwork and faxing. A national interoperability framework would let electronic records connect, freeing time for patient care.
• Common national data standards would give technology vendors one set of rules instead of different requirements in each province, lowering costs and making it easier to build systems that work across Canada.

Supporters say

• Automatic federal benefits would help people receive benefits they are entitled to, even if they have not filed a tax return.
• A temporary immediate expensing rule (the productivity superdeduction) would let businesses write off new manufacturing and processing buildings faster, which supporters say will encourage investment and create jobs.
• The bill would limit tax deferral through multi-tiered corporate structures, require certain crypto platforms to report user transactions, and implement the undertaxed profits rule under the global minimum tax framework.

Supporters say

• Allowing adults with an incurable illness to request medical assistance in dying in advance would let them make decisions about their care while they can still make them, subject to strict safeguards.
• The two measures in the bill are linked. The rule that mental illness alone cannot be the basis for an advance request is part of the same framework, so keeping them together makes the system consistent.
• The bill deals with one subject, medical assistance in dying, and amends only the Criminal Code and related laws. A single vote at second reading is therefore appropriate.

Supporters say

• Families could face fewer parole hearings. Under current law, they may be required to attend a review every two years, sometimes for life. The bill would reduce these hearings and spare families from retelling the crimes.
• Current practice lets prosecutors drop the abduction and sexual assault charges and proceed only on murder, so offenders are effectively sentenced for murder alone. The bill would recognize that three distinct crimes were committed.
• The bill gives judges discretion rather than imposing mandatory sentences. It applies only when abduction, sexual assault and murder are committed against the same victim, is not retroactive, and caps extended parole ineligibility at 40 years, based on the combined consecutive maximums.

Supporters say

• Consumers spend heavily on appliances that break early. A national framework would target durability and repairability, which could save money and reduce waste.
• The bill would set national minimum standards that provinces can build on, bringing consistency to the current patchwork of provincial laws.
• Better access to replacement parts, repair information and software would let consumers and independent repairers choose lower-cost repairs. Supporters cite an analysis estimating savings of up to 30% on routine car repairs.

Supporters say

• Problem gambling among young men is rising, and many studies show it. A national framework would limit gambling advertising that reaches them.
• Stronger rules could go further. One proposed amendment would move toward banning advertising for in-game bets, a fast-growing risk.
• Clinical practice guidelines for preventing gambling harm would give the country a shared, health-based standard.

Supporters say

• Canadian Armed Forces members who served in dangerous modern conflicts faced real risk and hardship, but have not always received the same formal recognition as those in earlier declared wars. This bill closes that gap.
• By establishing objective criteria — such as level of risk, intensity of operations, and exposure to physical or psychological harm — the framework ensures recognition is based on the realities of service, not bureaucratic labels or politics.
• The designation is a meaningful act of commemoration that doesn't change financial entitlements, so it fills a gap in honour and acknowledgment without creating new spending pressures.

Supporters say

• Billions in frozen Russian assets are sitting idle in Canada while Ukraine is actively at war — seizing and redirecting them would give Ukraine real, meaningful support beyond just writing cheques from Canadian taxpayers.
• Legal experts and human rights lawyers argue Canada already has the authority to forfeit these assets, and this bill provides the clear legal framework to do so.
• Holding Russia financially accountable sends a strong message that countries cannot wage illegal wars of aggression without consequences — it turns frozen assets into a real cost for the aggressor.

Supporters say

• BC atmospheric rivers and prairie droughts have caused billions in damages — earlier warnings and coordinated response could prevent much of that harm.
• federal, provincial, and municipal governments currently operate separate, incompatible forecasting systems; a national strategy forces coordination.
• committee heard testimony from housing and infrastructure experts confirming that better flood modelling would help identify which properties and infrastructure are most at risk.

Supporters say

• The bill would require social media services to keep children under 16 from having accounts, shielding young people from harmful online content.
• Supporters point to research linking algorithmic feeds, autoplay and endless scrolling to rising anxiety and depression among young people.
• The bill would require platforms to assess how their designs may encourage harmful content and to publish what they find. It would also require them to share user and activity data with independent researchers, and it would cover AI chatbots as well as social media.