Government leader, we should all be alarmed to learn of yet another failure of our justice and immigration system. A 47‑year‑old non-citizen who pleaded guilty to heinous sexual offences against a minor was granted a pause in proceedings so that he could consider whether his guilty plea might have an impact on his immigration status.

This, leader, is a man who repeatedly abused a minor, even while on bail for abusing the same minor. How can this government defend a system where the immigration status of a violent offender appears to carry more weight than the safety and dignity of Canadian victims?

I will be happy to do so because I have never seen a case as disgusting as this before in my life. This case is not happening in isolation. Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, officials testified this week that more than 700 foreign criminals are at large in Canada — I’m not making this up — some of over 33,000 individuals under removal orders who have simply disappeared in this country.

Leader, this is not enforcement; it is a surrender of our obligations and duties. It is basically the government absconding from its most basic duty to Canadians.