—but I want to emphasize, Mr. Chair, it is not my intention whatsoever to filibuster this. And you will see that very shortly when we start moving some of the recommendations, some of the clauses in a block. We do believe there are some aspects of this bill that should get speedy attention.
I think it's very clear that there's a significant difference between the approach taken in this legislation and the approach that seems to have done a lot of good in Canada. We have a decreasing crime rate. We do have serious problems in our cities with guns and gangs, there's no question about that, and we do have crimes that go undetected and unpunished in some cases, but that's a question of law enforcement.
In this particular case, we're talking about what you do with someone who is before the courts. We believe we've heard significant objections to this. I myself have received in excess of 10,000—I think we might be up to 15,000—letters to date. The same copies have been sent to other members, to the Minister of Justice, and to the Prime Minister, objecting to the approach being taken by this bill. It's a significant matter of public debate.
I believe that this approach the government is trying, some grand experiment of let's see if we can fix this by doing here what was done 20 years ago in the States and failed; let's roll back the clock and pretend we're in 1980 somewhere in the United States, and we'll be tough on criminals and see if it works.... Well, iIt didn't work in the United States. If incarcerating more people leads to a safer society, the United States would be the safest country in the world. We all know that's not the case, because the crime rates in the United States are through the roof.
In Canada, on the other hand, when we talk about safe streets and safe communities, the reality is that despite all of the publicity that's given to violent crime and certain types of crime within Canada, when Canadians were asked in polling as to how safe they feel in their communities and their homes, 93% of Canadians actually feel safe. And this is not some flimsy one-question poll. Serious polls demonstrate that 93% of Canadians actually feel safe.
We have a situation here where this bill is out of step and out of touch with history, with the experience of those who understand the field, and in some cases with common sense. It's punitive in nature and will lead, as many suggest, to a greater lack of safety and not to safer communities.
Having said that, Mr. Chair, I move this amendment for your consideration so that when this bill passes we will all know that it's going to be reviewed on a comprehensive basis within three years.