moved for leave to introduce Bill C-245, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (trafficking in a controlled substance within five hundred metres of an elementary school or a high school).
Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to reintroduce in this Parliament a piece of private member's legislation that met with great success in the previous Parliament. This bill would impose mandatory prison sentences of one year for a first offence and two years for a further offence for a person convicted of trafficking in a narcotic within 500 metres of an elementary school or a high school.
School is a place where children must be allowed to build their futures free from the tyranny of drug pushers. We must send a forceful message that selling drugs to our children, especially near their schools, will not be tolerated by our society and will result in mandatory imprisonment, not a slap on the wrist.
Before the dissolution of the last Parliament, my colleagues from all sides of this House voted to send this legislation to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for further study. I am hopeful that my colleagues in this new Parliament will be equally supportive.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)