Mr. Speaker, I appreciate you recognizing me when so many of my colleagues also want to ask questions of this hon. member.
I would like to state at the outset that this legislation, like every other piece of justice legislation that has been brought to the House by this Liberal government was designed by lawyers, drafted by lawyers, passed by lawyers for the benefit of lawyers.
When members opposite say that the Liberals are getting tough on crime it is an absolute joke. Everybody in this country knows that. Earlier the hon. member for London-Middlesex quoted Mr. Newark of the Canadian Police Association. The Liberals are bringing in Bill C-55 because the Canadian Police Association wants it and it going to do so much. Yet I find these same Liberals strangely silent when the same Canadian Police Association calls for the repeal of section 745. What a shock. It is also calling for a referendum on the return of capital punishment.
I would like to know from this hon. member who says that he wants to get tough on crime and that this government is getting tough on crime, how he voted on section 745. Would he support the repeal of section 745 as Canadians from coast to coast are calling for? Would he support a referendum to see the return of the death penalty for first degree, cold-blooded, premeditated murder?