Mr. Speaker, on December 14, 1993, a constituent of mine, Carol Goldie, was stabbed six times by her former husband after he had stalked her for five years. He was charged with 10 separate offences, among them attempted murder, criminal harassment, and stalking, under section 264 of the Criminal Code.
After a long process of plea bargaining, in February of this year the assailant pleaded guilty to mere assault and received a sentence of just two years less a day. All other charges were dropped, including, as usual, the weapons charges.
I find it difficult to express in strong enough terms the outrage of this sentence. It makes a mockery of the entire legal process. This precedent setting verdict renders the new stalking law impotent. Women who are harassed and intimidated remain unprotected by our justice system. The laws are in place but they are not enforced because justice is bargained away behind closed doors. No wonder Canadians are losing faith in our toothless system of justice. While the system can only bark, the criminals continue to bite.