Through the chair to Mr. Shipley, I remember the terror in my mom's eyes. I remember the terror in our community. I grew up in Mr. Baldinelli's riding. I grew up in the city of Niagara Falls, which is next door to my community, where many of the crimes happened—for the individual I won't name.
Throughout this debate, from June, it has been clear that this has been a partisan exercise. If it were a matter of public safety, members of Parliament wouldn't be so gleeful to mention the name of the serial killer in this place. They wouldn't read canned speeches prepared by the 20-somethings sitting behind them who have no knowledge of this but are passing up notes. Their leader said they need to hit all the talking points.
Mr. Chair, real people have been hurt by this. There was even a suggestion by Mr. Lloyd that we should bring in the victims' families. Have they been asked? Have they been consulted? Or are we just going to ask them, without knowing, for partisan purposes?
We're supposed to be debating legislation. Instead of this being a quick motion, we're now an hour into this, just to try to pick at the scab of a hurt community.
I agree that we should look at this, Mr. Chair. I support Ms. O'Connell's amendment, because there's a lot of misinformation here. This is an independent process.
To my understanding, Mr. Motz was a police officer. The mayor's office didn't call him up and tell him which crimes to prosecute or which criminals to go after or which jails to put them in. That was his decision, within the Criminal Code. He had discretion. He was an official. And now, to make a partisan point, he's pretending that this doesn't exist and using the name of a serial killer who harmed my community.
I've said this publicly, Mr. Chair. I believe Mr. Baldinelli's actions are genuine. He is bringing forward the hurt of the community. But the rest of the members are, again, reading canned speeches and talking points. It's outrageous. Canadian people deserve better than this. Niagara deserves better. I hope we have a look at this to show Canadians that this is an apolitical exercise, that there is a rule of law in this country and that politicians don't interfere in this process.
I'm sure we could all say, in this case, “Wouldn't it be great if we could interfere just in this one case?” We'd probably get most Canadians lined up with that. But that sets a dangerous precedent. Or maybe we should pass knee-jerk, unconstitutional legislation. Wouldn't that be great? But that would drag the family through years of court proceedings at the Supreme Court, just to score a couple of cheap political points, and what would that do? Niagara deserves better. The families deserve better. I hope this motion passes.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I have to leave for a community event, an organization in Mr. Baldinelli's riding that's here in Ottawa.
Canadians deserve better than this, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.