Madam Speaker, it is important to point out that the bill is not dealing with people who have come to this country and have abided by the laws of this country, have respected the laws of this country and have tried to become productive
citizens of this country. It is talking to people who have tried to subvert the system in one way or another.
The hon. member mentioned an area on which I must say I agree and on which I have some concerns myself, that is, those individuals who have come here at a young age. To me, they are the product of our society and that is an area we must address and look at. That is an area I have had some difficulty with for some time because young people who come here at the age of four or five or whatever the age-I came here myself at the age of nine-once they have been here for 20 or 30 years they are products of our society. We need to take responsibility for that.
Apart from that, the rest deals very effectively with the problem that we have with people who come in and out of this country. Some of them have been deported and have come back in again and we do not even know they are in the country. We need to address those kinds of problems and make sure that once and for all individuals who refuse to abide by Canadian laws and who do not respect Canadian citizens are not allowed to stay in this country.
I do not see that as being draconian or unacceptable. It is the normal way any society should proceed. It should make sure that those immigrants who come into this country who are law abiding, who come here to improve their lives and to participate in and contribute to Canadian society are freed from the oppression sometimes that these individuals put on them in their own communities.
The bill speaks very clearly to this issue. It is important to make sure that when a country has open doors and open hearts the way we have that we also deal with the reality of some of the bad apples that do come in. They are a very small minority. I do not ascribe what the Reform Party has been doing over the past six months where we seem to be looking at the immigrant criminal of the day every single day. We need to deal with the issue, so let us get on with it.