Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
OTTAWA — As the House of Commons rose Thursday for its summer break, the federal government touted all the legislation it passed over the preceding months, while the opposition Conservatives maintained not enough got done.
The House of Commons passed 24 bills during this sitting, including 19 government bills, three private members bills from the Conservatives and two Senate bills.
Two other government bills passed in December but didn’t pass through the Senate or receive royal assent until after Parliament returned from the Christmas break.
Here’s a rundown of some of the bills that made it though the House of Commons during this sitting. Some have received royal assent, or will by the end of the week, while others await debate in the Senate, which likely won’t happen until the fall.
Combating hate
Bill C-9 creates new offences for intimidating or obstructing someone outside a religious or cultural institution. It also defines “hatred” in criminal law for the first time, codifying a definition put forward by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The legislation also makes it a criminal offence to wilfully promote hate through the use of hate symbols, including symbols of designated terrorist entities.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the bill was developed in response to an alarming rise in hate crimes targeting Jews in Canada after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and ensuing Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
Statistics show the number of hate crimes more than doubled in Canada between 2018 and 2024.
The bill drew opposition from the Conservatives when the Liberals removed a religious exemption for hate speech from the Criminal Code in order to secure Bloc Québécois support for the bill.
Sexualized deepfakes and coercive control outlawed
Bill C-16 prohibits engaging in patterns of coercive or controlling conduct against an intimate partner.
It also makes changes to treat murders driven by control, hate, sexual violence or exploitation as first-degree and defines these murders as femicide when the victim is a woman.
The bill also expands the Criminal Code section prohibiting the non-consensual distribution of intimate images to apply to non-consensual deepfakes. That section was amended to ensure it covers “nearly nude” images, after experts warned the original version of the bill likely would not incorporate many of the images created by Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot that proliferated on his X platform at the beginning of this year.
The bail bill
Bill C-14, which makes it more difficult to get bail for a variety of crimes, received royal assent Monday.
The bill makes dozens of changes to the Criminal Code, including the introduction of a new reverse onus provision for certain offences — meaning the accused must prove they should receive bail, rather than a prosecutor convincing a judge that bail should be denied.
The offences include auto theft, extortion, break and enter involving violence, some human trafficking offences, car thefts linked to organized crime and violence involving choking or strangling someone.
People charged with a third violent crime, or who were convicted in the last decade of a similar violent offence involving a weapon, would also be affected by the change.
The law came after pressure from opposition Conservatives and most provinces following high-profile cases of violent crimes allegedly committed by someone who was out on bail.
Lawful access
The government says its “lawful access” bill, C-22, will ensure law enforcement agencies have the legal tools to prevent, investigate and respond to modern crime and protect Canadians in a manner consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Bill passed the House Thursday but it has not yet been dealt with in the Senate.
Opponents argue the legislation unnecessarily expands the powers of police and intelligence agencies, endangering privacy, flouting the Charter and making Canada less attractive to business.
The Liberals agreed to several amendments to try to allay concerns, including shortening the time electronic service providers would be required to keep digital metadata. The bill initially could have required providers to retain metadata, which can reveal a person’s location and movements, for up to one year. That has now been limited to up to six months.
Implementing the Liberals’ spring mini-budget
Bill C-30, which passed third reading in the House of Commons on Thursday, enacts certain measures from the Liberals’ spring economic update in April.
They include codifying the temporary break on the federal fuel excise tax into law.
The bill also reduces Canada Pension Plan contributions for employees and employers starting in 2027, extends the repayment grace period for withdrawals made under the Home Buyers’ Plan and makes permanent a capital-gains tax exemption for businesses sold via an employee ownership trust.
A new Crown corporation to get homes built
Bill C-20, the Build Canada Homes Act, turns the federal affordable housing agency launched last September into a Crown corporation.
The bill has passed third reading in the House of Commons and is expected to be up for consideration at committee and a final reading in the Senate.
This legislation gives Build Canada Homes the power to own, develop, transfer and finance property for development — part of Liberals’ plan to scale up non-market housing in the country.
It also allows Build Canada Homes to take over property rights held by the Canada Land Company, another Crown corporation that stewards federal lands.
Three Conservative private member’s bills get through
British Columbia MP Frank Caputo’s bill C-225 passed with widespread support and received royal assent earlier this month.
The law will amend the Criminal Code to allow the killer of an intimate partner to be charged with first-degree murder regardless of whether the act was premeditated.
The legislation is named Bailey’s Law after Bailey McCourt, a 32-year-old B.C. woman and mother of two who was killed last year. Her alleged killer was a former partner who was released on bail hours before the daylight attack at a Kelowna parking lot.
Ontario Conservative MP Adam Chambers’ bill C-230 also passed unanimously and is now before the Senate.
The bill would create a public registry of companies which receive tax writeoffs from the federal government worth more than $2 million. The original bill proposed a threshold of $1 million but it was amended at the committee stage.
Alberta Conservative MP Ziad Aboultaif also saw his bill C-234 pass. It would allow the Governor General to award a medal to organ and tissue donors. It’s now before the Senate.
Senate bills on forced sterilization, Arab Heritage month
The House of Commons also passed two Senate bills.
Bill S-228, which received royal assent earlier this week, criminalizes forced or coerced sterilization. The law says sterilization without legal consent constitutes aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
And S-227 passed Thursday as part of the motion to adjourn for the summer. The bill designates April as Arab Heritage Month across Canada.
“I wanted to thank all members of the House,” Liberal MP Ahmed Hussen said in the Commons while rising on a point of order.
“This is a really important bill for the community and for Canada and I really wanted to express my sincere gratitude to all colleagues.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2026.
— With files from Sara Ritchie, and Hannah Alberga in Toronto
Nick Murray, Craig Lord and Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
