Kamloops Thompson Nicola MP Frank Caputo (image credit - CPAC)

By Michael Reeve

INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE REFORMS

MP Caputo’s private members bill faces calls of partisan politics during second reading

Oct 20, 2025 | 4:29 PM

OTTAWA — Monday (Oct. 20) morning in Ottawa, Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola MP Frank Caputo’s private members bill was debated at second reading. Caputo’s bill seeks to make changes around intimate partner violence, including making any murder of an intimate partner be charged as first-degree murder. The bill also looks to make changes around evidence and give more tools to the courts to deal with offenders.

Caputo brought his bill, C-225, to the floor on Monday in the hopes of a quick debate and vote to move what he’s calling a non-partisan issue forward as quickly as possible.

“This house can resoundingly denounce the current state, where women are far too often — intimate partners period, because there are men who experience intimate partner violence, although it is disproportionately women — this house can denounce it, right here, right now,” said Caputo.

It wasn’t to be so easy for Caputo’s bill targeting reforms around intimate partner violence, with the governing Liberals seemingly not agreeing with the non-partisan assertion, targeting the Conservative record, not the bill directly.

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“Madam Speaker, I know that the member for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola cares deeply for his community and I respect him for that. However, when it comes to voting for the safety of women in his riding, he has consistently voted against these measures, following the instructions of his leader,” said Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal Parliamentary Secretary for Justice and the Attorney General.

“Constituents in the riding of Waterloo are saying, ‘When will Conservatives recognize that victims have the opportunity to exist and the federal government has a role to play?’ If this budget supports women serving organizations, will they stand with women or will they continue to play the partisan politics they are playing with this bill?” added Liberal MP Bardish Chagger.

While Caputo doesn’t need the support of the Liberals in the minority house, it will make it much tougher to have his bill move forward toward becoming law of the land

“There is nothing partisan about this bill. This bill is the most significant intervention on the law of intimate partner violence ever,” responded Caputo. “And yet the Liberals want to stand up and accuse us of partisanship. Good grief, Madam Speaker, this is so wrong. I asked whether the Liberals would support this, not one word out of that member’s mouth about whether they would support this.”

One issue actually related to the bill raised by the government’s side of the house was in relation to how the first-degree designation would affect partners in times of self defence, also calling into question the consultation undertaken in drafting the legislation.

“My question to the member was, tell us about what sort of consultation you have done. His response is, ‘Well, I was a Crown attorney.’ Well, I was a critic for justice when I was an MLA. It doesn’t disallow you to do the proper consultations,” said Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Kevin Lamoureux.

The Liberals did state they plan to table their own bill on the issue at some point in the future.

Caputo’s bill will return to the floor to continue the second reading and debate at a later date.