Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. If he were to look at the bill as an entire package he would find that it is certainly an improvement to the existing laws.
I reject one major point that he made. We have a civilized society with a justice system that is fair and just to all individuals, yet somehow he rejects the whole concept of an appeal procedure. The hon. member should understand that as fair as our system is, everyone should have the right to appeal if a wrong decision was made in a lower court.
This speaks to the notion and the type of logic that the Reform Party has toward social justice and the whole justice system. The only answer Reformers have is to throw criminals in jail, lock the door and leave them there.
The reality is that even when it comes to the issue of getting tough on crime, as my eloquent colleague from Parry Sound-Muskoka stated, they have voted against any piece of legislation presented by the Liberal government to get tough on crime.
However, I want to stick to some of the facts because facts are things that escape the Reform Party on most issues. Look at the major components of Bill C-55, the new long term offender designation that targets sex offenders and adds a period of long term supervision of up to 10 years following their release from prison. We have strengthened and streamlined dangerous offender provisions in the Criminal Code and we have a new judicial restraint provision to permit controls which include electronic
monitoring. Members can rest assured that Canadians from coast to coast will applaud this initiative.
Let us be honest in this Chamber. I am sure Reformers are all honourable members; at least they are addressed as such. The crime rate is declining and we are bringing safer homes and safer streets to the Canadian public.