Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minister for sharing with us once again his views on the present legal and judicial system. I can even say that I share the views he espoused in his "philosophical" speech because it touched on broad principles.
However, it remains to be seen whether I will still agree with him after he has put forward the amendments he has in mind. In light of the speech that I just heard, I would ask the minister to proceed with caution, as he seems to want to get involved with local problems that fall under provincial jurisdiction. The minister should take care not to always present bills with a national flavour, as he seems to want to do, because some of Quebec's laws could contradict what he is proposing. Quebec is feeling pressed on certain issues that were raised by the minister.
My question is very concrete. The problem with the motion presented by the Reform Party is primarily one of public perception. In the red book, the government referred to the fact that public perception was very negative, particularly in terms of how battered women and children are treated by the justice system.
In its red book, the government made an undertaking to provide or increase funding for agencies that assist battered women and their children. In my view, this would, be one way of showing the public that the system does in fact consider the rights of victims and not merely those of criminals.
Can the minister tell us what additional funding was allocated to these agencies in the last budget and how these agencies plan to use the funds?