Mr. Chair, when I see the kinds of amendments that are being proposed, starting with the first one introduced this morning and continuing to the two from Mr. Cotler we have just heard, I become concerned. It does not provide a great cause for hope for later on, when we get to the substance of the measures that the Conservatives are imposing with Bill C-10.
These are proposals that have been made to really improve the bill and to ensure that the government’s stated objective is met. The only comment I hear from the party opposite, the Conservatives, that is, is to raise objections to or snicker at the number of amendments. I would like to remind people around this table that this is an omnibus bill more than a hundred pages long, with more than 200 clauses, and that it affects nine acts.
To the people offended by the number of pages of amendments, I have to say that I am much more offended by a bill that seeks to enact the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act and to amend such fundamental legislation as the Criminal Code, the State Immunity Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and other acts. That frustrates me much more than the number of amendments.
Actually, the Conservatives are lucky because I wanted to introduce just one amendment, an amendment to drop this whole thing. But I was told that it was not admissible.
I don’t know whether they do not understand their own bill or whether they only see what they want to achieve. The Conservatives seem to be quite blindly claiming that we must deal only with what they have presented to the committee, nothing else, and that not a single additional word can help. The explanation that Mr. Cotler has just given makes a great deal of sense. If the Conservatives opened their ears and their eyes they would agree. But that is certainly not happening.
This committee can pack up and go home, my friends, although there are non-contentious issues on which parties are ready to come to an understanding, to find common ground. Why we can’t do that in this committee is beyond me. Just wait until we get to the Youth Criminal Justice Act or even to minimum sentences. That ought to be good.