Madam Speaker, I have just a couple of questions for the hon. member. First, I have a general comment. I do not know where the hon. member spent the Christmas break. I assume in his riding. If he spent his time in the riding perhaps he would realize that the world does not revolve around Ottawa, but the world actually does go on outside of this place.
The idea that a party must have its headquarters in Ottawa, must lick the boots of the special interest groups in Ottawa, must spend its time catering to Ottawa, looking after Ottawa, making its friends comfortable in Ottawa is typical, I may add, of the Liberal Party.
However, since they brought it up and not myself, I would like to take issue with a couple of comments that the member made that if immigrants sometimes look different they are persecuted. Obviously when that happens or if that happens then Canadians should be outraged that people are persecuted based on their looks, their race or their gender. It should not be tolerated and has no place in Canadian society.
However, the point that the member does not seem to want to admit is not that people may look different, it is that they commit serious illegal acts while they are not Canadian citizens. While they are refugees and commit serious acts what should happen to them?
I guess my question for the member is this. If someone who is claiming refugee status is charged with a serious crime should they be held in detention pending a deportation order or should they be released back into the general population?