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FIRST ON THE ORDER PAPER

Caputo to contemplate various private members’ bills before fall session of Parliament

Jun 30, 2025 | 12:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — After some minor shuffling to remove cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries, Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola Conservative MP Frank Caputo now sits atop the order paper, meaning he’s first in line to put forward a private members’ bill this fall.

Caputo has attempted several private members’ bill during his time in Ottawa, the most successful being one he co-sponsored Mel Arnold, who was then the North Okanagan-Shuswap MP. It replaced the term ‘child pornography’ in the Criminal Code and other federal statues to the term ‘child sexual abuse and exploitation material.’

Speaking to CFJC Today, Caputo said he already has three or four private members bills drafted, and will spent the summer determining which one will have the most cross party support in the House of Commons.

“I’ve been thinking about ideas on housing, intimate partner violence, sexual offenses, especially sexual offenses against children,” said Caputo. “These are areas that we should all agree on, so my hope is that whatever I do put forward is something every party can support.”

Caputo says he plans to do some consolation with community groups across the riding this summer as well as with his fellow Members of Parliament.

“Or you take elements from different bills and put them forward,” Caputo said.

“Maybe you have a really good idea that should be reflected in sentencing of sexual offenders, and then you have other ideas that should be reflected in intimate partner violence previsions. And sometimes you can combine those things, so my hope is that we can put as much good stuff in one bill and get it passed.

It’s a rare occurrence to have a private members’ bill from the opposition benches be enshrined into Canadian law.

“We are often talking with people from other parties, oftentimes we get along better than people realize,” Caputo added. “So it’s not that hard to establish communication. A lot of people will generally be quite genuine with you and say ‘hey, I can support this or I can’t.'”

“So I’m confident I will be able to put something forward. My hope is that the Liberals generally will support it because they are the biggest party in Parliament.”

Caputo is expected to move his latest private members’ bill shortly after MPs return to Ottawa for the fall session, which gets underway on Sept. 15.