House Leader MacKinnon Says Liberals Prioritizing Affordability, Crime Bills as Parliament Returns 

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon says the Liberal government will push legislation aimed at improving affordability for Canadians and strengthening the criminal justice system as MPs return to Parliament after the holiday break.

During a press conference on Jan. 26 to discuss his government’s agenda in the coming weeks, MacKinnon requested support from the Conservative Party to pass several bills in the minority Parliament, including Bill C-15, also known as the Budget Implementation Act. Bill C-15, an omnibus bill exceeding 600 pages, aims to implement measures outlined in the Liberal budget passed in November 2025, which the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois have opposed. 

“There’s no way that plan should not receive the approval of this Parliament. There is a majority in that room for that plan,” MacKinnon told reporters on Parliament Hill.

MacKinnon called for the Tories to commit to a “reasonable timeline for debate” on Bill C-15 at the third reading in the House of Commons, as he said it would provide “important assistance to grow our economy, to create jobs, and help Canadians with these challenging times.”

MacKinnon also requested that Poilievre ask Conservative senators to “stay out of the way” on the passage of Bill C-4, which would reduce the lowest personal income tax to 14 percent, implement a GST new housing rebate for first-time buyers, and formally eliminate the consumer carbon tax. The legislation is currently in first reading in the Senate.

Poilievre said in a Jan. 24 letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that after being in power for nearly a year his government had failed to deliver on much of the promises made during the election campaign. He said in the upcoming session the Conservatives were willing to work with the government to pass legislation on crime, affordability and international trade in order to turn “rhetoric into reality.”

Criminal Justice Bills

MacKinnon said Conservatives should also support the quick passage of Bill C-14 and C-16 and “put up or shut up on crime.” Bill C-14 would create new reverse onuses for major crimes such as auto theft, breaking and entering, human smuggling, and sexual assault, while C-16 aims to strengthen protections against gender-based and intimate partner violence and implement provisions to protect children from predators.

“We are going to be telling Conservatives that they have a suite of crime measures in front of them that they can pass today,” MacKinnon said. 

The Tories have said they are against Bill C-16 because it includes provisions that would allow judges to ignore existing mandatory minimums for some crimes like sexual assault with a gun, human trafficking, and weapons trafficking.

The Conservatives have repeatedly called for the justice committee to expedite its examination of Bill C-14 instead of going through a clause-by-clause examination of Bill C-9, which would aim to strengthen measures against hate-motivated crimes, intimidation, and the promotion of hatred. 

MacKinnon was asked by reporters about controversies surrounding Bill C-9, as it includes an amendment to remove the religious defence to hate speech in the Criminal Code. Justice Minister Sean Fraser has said removing the exemption would clarify the law while “maintaining the full constitutional protection for freedom of religion and freedom of expression,” but Conservatives have said the Bloc Québécois amendments to the bill would lead to religious texts being criminalized.

MacKinnon said the government is “obviously sensitive” to the concerns of Canadians, but believes Bill C-9 includes important measures and will continue pushing for it to pass.

Tory House Leader Andrew Scheer said in a press conference on Jan. 26 that Conservatives had requested 19 times during the last session that the government pause debate on C-9 so that the committee could instead examine Bill C-14 to address rising crime, but their efforts had not been successful until now.

“Well, the 20th time was the charm, and finally, today, the Liberals adopted the Conservative idea to pause debate on Bill C-9 so we could tackle the bail crisis that’s going on in this country,” he said.

Scheer said the Justice Committee will be working on C-14 for the next few days before it comes back to the House of Commons.

Scheer said the Conservatives were calling on the government to “work cooperatively, to respect the mandate that the Canadian people gave them in the last election, and work with us to provide tax relief” which he said was needed to address the affordability crisis.