Your officials provided us with these statistics. You are not answering my question. I expect you to answer my questions.
You have to acknowledge that your bill is ideological in nature and has nothing to do with criminality as it plays out in communities.
When you appeared with Stockwell Day at a press conference, you had no rigorous arguments to make, no statistics to support your bill. You can't possibly expect to get opposition party support on the strength of the weak arguments you have put forth.
So, if we're talking about putting people who commit violent crimes behind bars, we Bloc members agree.
I was the member for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve when there was a car bombing in 1995. That is when I tabled the first anti-gang bill. I know full well that there are circumstances where incarceration is called for. What I'm worried about, is that you have been unable to distinguish violent offences from non-violent ones.
So, I have a very specific question to put to you and I do not want to hear political philosophy as an answer. Why did you not amend section 718 of the Criminal Code to make sure that under sentencing principles, the judiciary was asked not to hand down conditional sentences for violent crimes?
Let's add another objective to section 718. I'm prepared to vote in favour of that and I'm convinced my colleagues will do the same.