Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to talk to this bill presented by my colleague, the member for Surrey-White Rock-South Langley. First, I listened carefully to her presentation and I would like to briefly comment on it.
She spent a good three quarters of her time describing fully, some details being more lurid than others, events which occurred during the last few years in Canada, and she particularly brought back to mind the tragic case of the young Stephenson boy; finally, during five minutes, at the very end of her speech, she talked about her bill.
I mention this because I personally wonder what kind of consequences might result from this constant rehashing, day after day, of such sordid cases which, in my view, give rise to heated debates and appeal to our most primal instincts. I respect my colleague's opinion of course, but I wonder. As a member of Parliament, I think it is quite proper to question our method of debating such important subjects which have an impact on the daily life of our fellow Canadians.
I want to stress that the Official Opposition believes that we must send a clear message to all Canadians saying that it is absolutely necessary for the government and Parliament to ensure the security of our children and our families and, of course, the protection of society as a whole. All necessary measures must be taken in order to reach that goal.
I also want to stress that the Official Opposition certainly does not want to leave itself open to criticism that its attitude towards cases like the one mentioned by our colleague from the Reform Party is too lenient.
No parliamentarian in this House would ever endorse such actions. The bill before us is identical to a bill introduced last year by the solicitor general of the previous government, Doug Lewis, the first objective of which was to permit the revision of the sentence, while it was being served, imposed on an individual found guilty of a violent crime, to allow for an indeterminate period of imprisonment.
Such a provision already exists in our Criminal Code, as mentioned by the hon. member for Témiscamingue a short while ago. There is, in the Criminal Code, a provision that allows the court to find an offender to be a dangerous offender and thereupon impose a sentence of imprisonment for an indetermi-
nate period, which means until we are convinced that the person is no longer a threat to society.
The difference is that the individual must be found to be a dangerous offender at the time of sentencing, whereas the bill before us would permit that at any time, even a few days before the end of the sentence, so that the individual could stay in jail all his life.
It seems to me that such a provision is contrary to fundamental principles of Canadian law, in particular the one according to which you cannot be tried twice for the same offence. In other words, case heard case tried, meaning that once you have been brought before the court for a given offence, found guilty and sentenced, you cannot be charged again with the same offence.
To act in accordance with this bill would depart from this principle. Moreover, clause 26 of the bill provides, and I quote: "The evidence relied on by the court in making a finding under subsection (2) must include evidence that could not reasonably have been presented to the court that sentenced the offender for the serious personal injury offence".
In my view, this provision departs from another principle, namely that of reasonable doubt, which is fundamental, especially in criminal law. In every court case, to be on the safe side, the judge reminds the jury that a decision must be rendered based on the fact that, if there is any doubt left in their minds, they must let the accused go free.
What this means is that, if years down the road it turns out that some evidence had not been presented to the court because the Crown had not done its job or had botched it, it would be possible to reopen the case to have the sentence extended and the offender retried on the same charges.
The Parole Board would also be given powers of investigation in that respect. The bill's sponsor would want the Parole Board not only to be permitted but required to investigate to find out if, in fact, there are further developments that warrant reopening the case.
We already know the huge workload of the parole board. I think that adding this mandate would further hinder or impede the work of the parole board and, besides, the parole board is not an investigating body. Its mandate is to rehabilitate people, criminals who for one reason or another are behind bars.
I think that this provision significantly changes the Parole Board's responsibilities.
I conclude by repeating-and this is the crux of my remarks-that we must question the approach we are now taking. It is not that the goal in itself is unacceptable or unworthy of our support. We fully agree that criminals who commit such heinous crimes should remain behind bars as long as possible or until society is assured that these people will not commit such crimes again. But I think that the current laws can now provide such assurances and properly protect society.
One final comment, Mr. Speaker, if you allow me. Such an approach must be part of a total strategy and not just an attempt to give the impression that we parliamentarians or members of this House want to act out of vengeance. It must be part of an overall strategy. That is what the former Solicitor General wanted to do when he put forward a series of measures. During these debates, I would like us to refer to this total strategy as well.