Mr. Speaker, I too would like to think the government would realize the importance of bringing in a child sex offender registry.
We have had the parliamentary secretary tell us this morning that it is out of order because it will cost money. Surely the rights of the innocent deserve a little bit of money. We seem to spend millions and millions of dollars and all kinds of effort by the police to try to convict people after the crimes are committed.
As we have heard the previous speaker tell us, even those who are convicted of dangerous offences and should be in jail, not only for a long time but perhaps as long as they live, are out on the street. Perhaps it is not a Canadian street but the street of another country, in order for them to continue to perpetrate these horrible and horrific crimes to destroy innocent young children who are the most precious people we have.
The government is totally and absolutely opposed to trying to protect and help the innocent, not the criminals but the innocent, our young and vulnerable. The government is not prepared to spend any money whatsoever to help these people before they are victimized, before their lives are ruined and before they are turned perhaps into criminals themselves. The government would far rather keep the money and spend it on recycling prisoners through our jail system. They are out the door as soon as they are in to continue on in their awful ways.
In the last little while I have been hearing about Gustafsen Lake on the television and the fact that we now have the criminals in that situation behind bars. It is said this is going to be the largest police investigation in history. No doubt millions and millions of dollars will be spent building a huge case against people who are obviously guilty. It is going to drag through the courts for months and perhaps years while the government says it has no money whatsoever to protect our young.
In this House we have had debates covering weeks on setting up a registry for guns and other firearms. The Minister of Justice is prepared to spend by his own admission up to $200 million of taxpayers' money to set up a national gun registration system so that law-abiding citizens can be registered, fined and penalized if convicted of not following the rules. This is $200 million of taxpayers' money. The innocent law-abiding citizens are going to be put through hoops time and time again. If they fail to register their guns they are going to be subject to the Criminal Code, imprisoned and everything else.
These are not people who have committed a crime. They are not people who by and large will commit a crime. Yet the Minister of Justice says it is perfectly A-okay to spend $200 million on the effort. However there is no money to protect our young, our innocent and our vulnerable.
Where is the government coming from? I cannot understand the logic of the $200 million, the imposition of all kinds of rules and regulations on law-abiding citizens. Yet the Minister of Justice absolutely and completely refuses to take the worst criminals in the country and put their names on a list to let people know who they are, where they are, what they have done and what they could do to children in our neighbourhoods.