Mr. Speaker, the reason I have only five minutes to speak is that the government has moved closure again on a bill. I would like to talk for the couple of minutes I have left on why this bill is symbolic of two things that have become obvious of this Liberal government.
One thing that has become obvious is that Liberal leadership is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as a Liberal leader. There is a Liberal follower, there is a Liberal bootlicker, there is a Liberal cave in, there is a Liberal puppet, there is a Liberal wishy-washy half-baked social engineering attempt at doing something, but there is no Liberal leadership. That is what I would like to talk about.
I would like to show how this bill is symbolic. Out on the west coast there is a symptom we know of when we talk about fish, that the fish rots from the head down. What we have in this example is the fact that not only is there no Liberal leadership, there is no such thing, there is also a rot at the top. The rot at the top has started to create a stench. It is not only something that maybe we could say is a mistake but an actual stench surrounds what is going on here today.
We should be debating the private member's bill from the member for York South-Weston. We should be debating in this House the elimination of section 745. This House passed that private member's bill. We in this House said that we approve in principle the bill of the member for York South-Weston that we will abolish-not tinker with, not play with, not jack around with-we will abolish section 745.
This House passed that bill. It was approved by all members of this House. It was sent to committee and then what happened? That Liberal leadership, the concept that is foreign to the government, said to their Liberal committee: "This bill must not ever see the light of day". What is it? Was the bill too popular, was there too widespread an appeal?
I will tell you what it is. The bill was sent to committee. The bill was then sent from committee to cyberspace. The Minister of Justice should be showing some leadership on this. If he had the guts to vote against it that is one thing, but instead he just says: "Let us hope it goes away".
People have talked about the government's half measures, that it moves half way on different things. It is not half way, it is nowhere. This bill has no support. The Canadian police chiefs will not support it. The victims of crime will not support it. The Canadian people will not support it. If the Liberals were to ask in their own ridings, there is no support for this half measure. There is none. Canadians want this section eliminated. Reform members have gone through the reasons it is not supported by anyone.
Maybe the reason the member for Kingston and the Islands wanted it is that he knows the prisoners can now vote. Maybe there is something in it for him. Maybe it will swing the riding.
What has happened here in the House is that the Liberals have told their backbenchers: "We can have a free vote on private members' bills whenever you want". It is like a drug. They say: "Oh thank you. I feel so good about this. I will vote my conscience, I will vote what I think my constituents want".
They did that, to give them credit. They did that on the bill from the member for York South-Weston. When they were appeased, when they felt good, when the drug and the sedative was flowing through their bodies, what happened? The bill was sent to committee to never see the light of day. I do not know where the sedative is. I do not know whether someone has to take it with a double shot of rye to make them feel good.
The backbenchers should be angry over this. They should say to the government: "When we pass legislation in this House, when it goes to committee, we want to vote on it". They should have the right. It was wrong. There is no leadership over there. This thing stinks.