Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have a chance to speak on this issue. I am certainly pleased that the warm and fuzzy questions asked by the Liberals to the warm and fuzzy Bloc members regarding law and order are over with. That was difficult to take.
I would like to quote a few statistics I have picked up myself with regard to what the hon. member from the Liberal Party stated a while ago. I am going back to 1984. The rate of violent crime since 1984 has increased 49 per cent. The rate of sexual assault has
increased 8 per cent annually since 1984. Assaults accounted for six out of ten reported violent incidents in 1994.
Consider that since 1984 when the Young Offenders Act was introduced, crime has gone up by 140 per cent. Members over there stand on their feet and tell us how much better it is getting because the crime rate went down 3.2 per cent or 5.9 per cent or whatever from one year to the next. It is not getting better. There are a number of incidents we could talk about which reflect this.
When are we in the House going to realize there are victims? Guns do not make victims; killers make victims, in case members opposite have forgotten.
The people who were victimized close to Montreal recently by young offenders with ball bats provide an example as do George and Tom Ambas from Scarborough, Ontario, who lost a brother in their store to young offenders with knives. We do not need to talk about what weapon is used. We need to talk about the fact that there are victims because of killers.
In the Reform amendments to the legislation we attempted to incorporate those things that were suggested to us by victims through their petitions and letters. We listened to Canadians and we tried to put their wishes into the criminal agenda through our motions.
For example, we tried to get Bill C-45 amended which would allow victims to be paid out of inmate funds. There would be mandatory restitution. All of the things we put in were geared toward improving things for the victim. Not one member in the House voted for those amendments, except for Reform Party members. All the Liberals said no and all the Bloc said no to things like mandatory restitution. We were trying to do something that would make it a little easier for the victims.
A lady in my riding was raped. She happened to be a former student where I taught. The perpetrator was identified by her, picked up at breakfast and was out on bail by noon. Is living in fear following that rape fair to the victim, knowing that the perpetrator is still on the loose? If we arrest violent offenders, surely we can keep them in jail. Why would a victim stand up and cheer any system that would let the perpetrator out only a few hours after the crime? Somebody explain that to me.
In the case of Ann Marie Bloskie, her killer made lots of advances toward her and she always refused. Her killer tried to force her into sex. When she fought back he crushed her skull with a rock and then he sexually assaulted her. He went home and slept. The next day he returned and further abused the body. Then he buried her.
This killer loved violent, sexually explicit porno videos. He showed no remorse for the crime. He had deep seated psychological problems that would require life long treatment, said the psychiatrist. This crime happened just a few weeks short of his 18th birthday, so the judge said it was in the best interests of the murderer to be tried under the Young Offenders Act. There was no mention of the victim, no mention of the family.
Her killer is now nameless. He is now walking the streets because all he got for that crime was three years. After three years he is back on the streets but nobody knows for sure who he is. The parents of the victim were not notified that the killer was released.
Fixing those problems is the kind of thing that makes plain, ordinary common sense. That is what is on the agenda of Canadians. It is on the Reform agenda because it is what Canadians want.
Why is having a binding referendum for capital punishment on the Reform agenda? Because it is on the agenda of Canadians. That is why. In polls all across the land, 70 per cent of the people have indicated that is what they want. If it is on their agenda, it is on the Reform agenda. It is too bad the Liberals do not listen to the people in their ridings.
Things get worse. We talk about victims. I really get worried and upset when I see some of the things that have been produced by the government. I know some Liberals were visited this very day by a group who are quite concerned that there is an organization putting pamphlets in the schools which promote anal sex as a method of reducing violence and pregnancy. I looked at the little booklets and guess who prints them and pays for them? The taxpayers of Canada pay for them, compliments of this government's health department.
Members sit over there and laugh. I hope they laugh when their grandchildren come home with this kind of garbage. I hope they can laugh then. I cannot laugh when this happens and I will not laugh. I think it is ridiculous and it is a shame. They know it is happening. They see it happening. It is being printed by the Canadian health department. If members have any doubts, they can come on over and I will show them.
Those are the kinds of things Canadians are telling their MPs. They do not want it because it is creating more victims and causing problems. I do not want it either but if we try to do something about it, those on the other side are overcome with warm, fuzzy feelings. It is always the criminal, the criminal, the criminal.
I cannot believe that grown men and women would allow those kinds of things to happen. I cannot believe that a colleague of mine, who taught in a school just as I did, would find that an acceptable piece of junk to come into the building. I know he would not.
The trouble is that the justice system is absolutely not addressing anything which is causing victims more grief. They could do it if they wanted to.
Christine Silverberg, the Calgary chief of police, has written: "Dangerous violent criminals should never be released". I agree. "There should be a victims bill of rights". I agree. "Victims are the most neglected group in the legal system from beginning to end". I agree. "Victims should be involved in every government decision dealing with their assailants". I also agree with that.
When is this government going to wake up and listen to the people of Canada, listen to what the petitioners are saying and listen to what their letters state which I know they all receive?