QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Public Safety
Safety and Protection of Essential Infrastructure
April 21, 2026
It would be my pleasure, minister.
A recent report by the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications revealed that copper theft is no mere nuisance. It is a growing threat to public safety. Perpetrators are damaging critical infrastructure, which jeopardizes our communities. Essential services are being disrupted by organized criminals, and repeat offenders treat these crimes as low-risk, high-reward activities.
Minister, despite the scale of the problem and obvious ties to organized crime, there doesn’t seem to be a cohesive national strategy to deal with it. The government considers copper theft to be a simple property crime, but it’s actually an attack on infrastructure security.
When will you launch a national plan and stop considering this crime to be simple property theft?
Thank you, senator. This is an issue that I’ve heard about, particularly from telecommunication companies and others who have been deeply impacted by the work. In part, I think Bill C-14 and Bill C-8 will ensure some kind of compliance. Bill C-14, for example, is on sentencing and bail for repeat offenders. It is an area where, while this may be seen as a property theft matter, it still encapsulates the intent of Bill C-14 and an area that I know this house is working on.
We are looking to Bill C-14 as one of the primary drivers of ensuring that theft of all kinds, including copper theft, is addressed.
Practical issues and legislation to address copper theft aside, will you be proactive on this and institute a national plan that will actually protect our essential infrastructure?
Senator, more work does need to go into ensuring our critical national infrastructure is protected. That is an area we will need to work on. My primary objective is to ensure that Bill C-8 becomes law and, from there, to work on other pieces of legislation.
Since we formed government in April of last year, I believe we have had nine bills that are directly linked to public safety and crime. We are working through them, and many of them are in the House right now. We look forward to continuing that work on areas where gaps exist, including the ones that you identified.
