Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Thank you, Senator Moreau. I will be brief. There was an agreement at the steering committee, and I wanted to say a few words on this.

I support my colleague Senator Prosper’s amendment. My position is not ideological. I judge these issues on a case-by-case basis. It seems unrealistic to expect that we can seriously complete our consideration of Bill C-25 in a single day, just to satisfy the government. This flies in the face of our duty to provide sober second thought on legislation. We’re being asked to rubber-stamp bills. We’re being asked to act like doormats.

As you know, I recently spoke in this chamber to point out that we needed to accelerate the work on Bill C-16, which seeks to protect victims. It is eagerly awaited by groups representing victims of crime.

Quebec is going through a difficult period, with women in particular feeling unsafe because of the high number of femicides. There have been 11 so far this year.

There is also a high number of accused in cases of domestic violence who have breached their release conditions.

Since last Wednesday, we have heard from 31 witnesses on Bill C-16. We have been working very hard, and even added meetings on Friday and today.

Getting back to Bill C-25, which amends the Canada Elections Act and is at the heart of debate, we were asked to conduct a pre‑study, which we did. We held four meetings over two days. We heard from the minister and about a dozen witnesses from various organizations, and yet we did say in our report that we needed more time to conduct a solid study.

The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, by comparison, studied Bill C-25 from May 5 to June 2 — an entire month — and heard from 27 witnesses.

Asking for an extra day or two to hear from the relevant witnesses on this bill is not unreasonable. The issues raised are complex. They include foreign interference in our politics and how to limit it, deepfakes and stricter political party financing rules. The experts we heard from were highly critical of the measures set out in this bill to protect voters’ personal information. Elections Canada suggested nine amendments.

In short, I don’t feel that our work is done, and I still fail to understand the urgency of adopting Bill C-25 at lightning speed. Thank you.