Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that the juvenile justice system in Canada was developed through many years and was provided for in a statute in 1984 which had the support of all parties in this House when the Young Offenders Act was enacted.
The underlying principle is that the distinctions to which the hon. member has referred are appropriate when we are dealing with youth who have their lives in front of them, who are particularly appropriate for rehabilitation efforts.
At the same time, as we undertook to do last year when we campaigned for office, we have now introduced in Bill C-37 proposals for specific amendments to strengthen that statute, to deal with 16 and 17 year olds who commit the crimes of most serious violence in a particular way that will presume they are to be tried in adult court, to share the information with school boards, principals of schools and members of the community when there are young offenders who are accused or suspected of crimes that might endanger the public safety, and make a variety of other changes including increasing the maximum sentence for murder.
This government with those proposed changes in my respectful view has proposed to strengthen the Young Offenders Act while preserving the main elements of juvenile justice.