Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, when we look at this omnibus crime bill legislation, it is not only one bill, it is nine bills. Each of these bills effects a transformative impact on our criminal justice system. Each of these bills warrants the appropriate study for that which will have a transformative impact on our justice system. It's not only the criminal justice system. This will relate to our whole framework as a parliamentary democracy and as a constitutional democracy.
The government has already introduced time allocation in the introduction of the bill in the House and limited debate in the House to two days. One of the premises, it appears, at the time for purposes of time allocation in the House is that we would be going to clause-by-clause consideration, so we would have the time in committee to do that which was not allowed us in the House. So now what we have is a hijacking of democracy in the committee to go along with what took place in the House.
The government seems to believe, and they believe this in good faith--I'm not questioning their good faith--that if you have legislation whose title is the Safe Streets and Communities Act, that speaks for itself. As we say, res ipsa loquitur. The title speaks for itself. No more discussion needs to be had. You say this is Safe Streets and Communities and therefore let's pass it, because the title validates everything and we don't need any discussion or debate. And if any question is raised beyond this, the answer is, well, we have a mandate from the people in order to pass this Safe Streets and Communities Act. We have a mandate to protect the streets and communities in this nation.
Mr. Chairman, every government at every time has a mandate to protect safe streets and communities. Every government has not only a mandate, it has a constitutional responsibility to protect its citizens. When we were in government, Mr. Chairman, I also spoke of the need to protect safe streets and safe communities because it was a constitutional responsibility to do so. I would never have suggested that simply because legislation was introduced with that title, that validates it in and of itself. I would never presume to say we have a mandate from the people to do what we want.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, the last time I looked, this country was still a parliamentary democracy; this country was still a constitutional democracy. I want to say that what is being done today is a black day for parliamentary democracy. What is being done today is a shameful day for constitutional democracy. I'm surprised that the members opposite would ask us to be accomplices. They want to do this, but to ask us to be accomplices in this hijacking of democracy.... We are here to represent the constituents who elected us. My constituents did not elect me to come here and be an accomplice to the hijacking of this process.
We were elected to exercise constitutional oversight, Mr. Chairman. That is part of our constitutional responsibility. This is not simply a matter of a couple of amendments to a bill and then say, okay, let's go ahead. This goes to the heart and soul of what not only a parliamentary democracy is all about but what a constitutional democracy is all about. This goes to the heart and soul of what we as parliamentarians have an obligation to do and to discharge on behalf of our constituents. You are saying to me today that I have to short-circuit my discussion with my constituents simply because the government wants to go ahead and short-circuit this constitutional and parliamentary process.
What about the new members who have been elected and who are sitting here for the first time? They never debated this bill before. They never had an opportunity to engage in this bill before. They never had an opportunity to consult with their constituents before. When it is said, as we have heard, well, these bills have been debated before, let me just now go as a case study to what happened Tuesday.
We had an important bill on Tuesday. When I say that this legislation is transformative legislation, the bill on Tuesday was giving victims of terror a civil remedy against their terrorist perpetrators. Mr. Chairman, this was transformative legislation. For the first time in the history of this country we were going to amend the State Immunity Act in order to give victims a voice, something the members opposite organized their representations around, and I share that with them. Victims of terror should be given a voice.
We were also going to be holding state sponsors of terror accountable for the first time. Mr. Chairman, this was transformative legislation, as I say: giving victims a voice, holding terrorists accountable for the first time, and amending the State Immunity Act. We have an anomalous situation, Mr. Chairman, which happily this legislation was going to correct. That anomalous situation was that historically foreign states could only be held accountable if damages were caused by reason of a breach of contract.
We had a commercial exception, Mr. Chairman, but we didn't have an exception if victims suffered loss of life and injury by reason of terrorist attacks. So the legislation was put forward to correct that anomaly—to correct that anomaly in almost constitutional terms, to correct that anomaly in human terms.
Mr. Chairman, members opposite sat here on Tuesday to support that legislation in principle. We didn't oppose the legislation. We didn't filibuster the legislation. We came here to say here are some amendments to improve the legislation that you are tabling in Parliament. This is legislation that we are supporting for the same reasons you have put this legislation forth, but we want to make it more effective. We want to ensure that victims will have a more effective voice. We want to ensure that terrorists will be held effectively accountable. We want to ensure that the amendments to the State Immunity Act will act in such a way that we will at the end of the day give the victims a voice that they seek and that they deserve and hold the terrorist states and their proxies accountable in the way our parliamentary and constitutional democracy should be doing. That's why we supported the legislation.
All we did was table amendments to make the legislation proposed by the government, which we supported, more effective. What happens? Before we could even conclude that, Mr. Chairman--and we would have been concluding that in short order this morning and we would have been on the way to have enacted a transformative piece of legislation--we have the process hijacked, so that we can't go ahead with regard to that bill properly, and we have the rest of the process hijacked.
Mr. Chairman, if you look at the nine bills here, you have, I would say, eleven transformative impacts. I'm not talking about specific amendments that are warranted. I'm talking about the overall nature of the reform that is being proposed with regard to this legislation.
Let me go to one thing: this legislation introduces in the course of its nine bills initiatives that may arguably be in breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We have a responsibility, parliamentarians of every party, to ensure, because we are now, since 1982, a constitutional democracy, Mr. Chairman.... We're not just a parliamentary democracy; we are a constitutional democracy. We have an obligation that begins with the Minister of Justice, but continues with each of us as parliamentarians, to ensure that any proposed legislative initiative comports with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We have heard witnesses testify before this committee, Mr. Chairman, that there are provisions in different pieces of this legislation that arguably breach the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I'm not going to prejudge whether they do or they don't. I happen to believe that some of them arguably do, but the point is, it warranted discussion and debate in this chamber.
Surely the members opposite would want to ensure that legislation they are proposing comports with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Surely they would want to ensure that we as parliamentarians discharge our constitutional responsibility for the oversight of that legislation to ensure that it comports with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Mr. Chairman, I don't want to find myself going into report stage saying, hey, wait a minute, what about all those provisions with regard to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that we should have discussed, that we should have debated, and for which we should have been able to put amendments forth? I don't want to have to go back to my constituents and have them say to me, “What were you doing up there? Did you not care about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? You, who taught it for 35 years, how can you go to Parliament and say it doesn't make a difference any more, as if it never happened? We don't have to discuss it. We're simply a parliamentary democracy, we're not a constitutional democracy any more. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was never enacted in 1982.” That's effectively what we'll be doing, Mr. Chairman, if we go ahead and short-circuit this process.
I can go on. Another transformative impact is on the whole question of federal-provincial relations. Mr. Chairman, the government always spoke about an open federalism, about a covenantal federalism, that we were going to cooperate with the provinces. Mr. Chairman, we have the spectacle of the Minister of Justice of Quebec not only seeking still to put forward amendments with regard, in particular—