Mr. Speaker, as a legislator in the House of Commons and the Parliament of Canada it really grieves me to stand here and express my sadness that Canada's courts and law are making decisions that absolve persons of any criminality who are extremely intoxicated or have snorted high levels of cocaine or who have killed behind the wheel of an automobile.
I grieve for the victims of these crimes, in many cases women. I grieve for those who have died at the hands of an abusing person. These victims did not condone or encourage intoxication or drug inducement.
As a legislator I stand here today and make a promise to those victims, both those living and in memory of those who died. I pledge to them my immediate commitment to work with the Minister of Justice toward reforming the Criminal Code through adding new crimes of intoxication, whether drugs or alcohol, to ensure that the perpetrators and not the victims are the ones convicted in our courts of law.