Madam Speaker, I rise with pride to endorse Bill C-316 and to offer congratulations to my colleague the member for Cambridge who recognized a problem that exists in the system as we have it today. He has dealt with it in such a way that it looks as though with the endorsement of the House it will go on to become law.
We would be remiss if we did not reflect a little on why a debate on a private members' bill can become as important as it has in this session. Those who are new here will not see any difference, but those who have been involved in political life and parliamentary procedure in the past years realize that historically private members' bills hardly ever, if ever, have seen the light of day. They have been a medium for debate and probably have established some tone of opinion among parliamentarians, but they had no chance of becoming law.
To the credit of this government, now private members' bills do have a chance to become law and they are subjected to a free vote so that everyone in the House can deliver their opinion. We now have private members' bills, some applying to law and order issues, which have been introduced by thoughtful members of the House and are moving on to become part of our justice system.
It is interesting to note an article which appeared in the Toronto Sun on September 17, written by Sean Durkan of the Ottawa bureau. He talks about the quiet war on crime that is being waged by the present government. It is not big headline grabbing stuff, but little by little the Minister of Justice is clawing away at the loopholes and flaws that are present in the judicial system. He said: ``The Liberal government has actually done more to toughen up the system in two years than the previous Tory government did in nine''. That should go on record to show that the government has taken the issue of law and order very, very seriously.
Laws of this nature do not get introduced and are not made without some reaction to an incident or occurrence. Of course that is the evolution of virtually all law over, above and beyond our Constitution. When bills are passed in the House they are passed because some situation has arisen. This is an evolutionary process. It goes on. We who serve here for our brief time have an opportunity to contribute.
It is only in this 35th Parliament of Canada that we have had the opportunity as private members, or backbenchers as we are called, to be able to make a solid contribution to the way these laws unfold and the way the legislative system progresses. It makes these bills very important to the life of Canada. I know that members as a result assume far more personal responsibility when they introduce bills of this nature.
I would like to congratulate all of the people who participated in the debate. I believe everything that could have been said on this subject has been said. Now is the time for us to take it to the next stage, shepherd it through and ensure that our efforts are not wasted, so we will see in due course in the slowness of the democratic process, this becoming part of our legal system and making a great contribution to it.