Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has addressed several issues. He mentioned this was more of a provincial matter when he referred to the letter I read from. I am sorry the member missed the point I was making. If that young man had been convicted, and since federal laws say his name cannot be released, then he could go on to do this again and again and we would not be protected from him because we would not know his identity. To me that is a federal matter. Anybody who knows anything about the law should know that it is this way. I am surprised that as a lawyer the hon. member did not realize that.
With respect to the stronger sentences, I remind the hon. member that it was his government that felt stronger sentences were necessary in Bill C-41. I remind the hon. member that in this very legislation there are stronger sentences being proposed. Now he is arguing against them. That is a little ironic. I encourage the hon. member to read the legislation.
With respect to the fall in the crime rate among young offenders, there is a demographic issue that needs to be addressed here. It is not at all clear. If we go back a generation and look at the rise in violent crime between the sixties and today, it has gone up fourfold,
I believe. Let us not spew out statistics without all of the background that goes with them.
The hon. member should take the time to sit down and read this legislation. If he does he will not be so quick to jump up and start criticizing the Reform Party.