Mr. Speaker, the bill introduced by the hon. member for Prince George-Peace River is a bill to restore the death penalty. Under this bill, all cases of first degree murder committed by an adult would be punishable by death, while the sentence for second degree murder would remain imprisonment for life, although the terms of release would be stricter.
In addition, the Young Offenders Act would be amended to provide for a sentence not exceeding 25 years for first degree murder and not exceeding 10 years for second degree murder.
This reopens the debate on capital punishment. As you know, this issue has already been debated at great lengths in this House. Let us start by asking ourselves if new developments justify throwing back into question the existing provisions of the Criminal Code?
Has the number of murders increased in Canada? The latest statistics published by Statistics Canada in Juristat actually show a 6 per cent drop in the number of homicides in 1994, the lowest number in 25 years. The 596 reported homicides represent a 34 per cent reduction over 1993, that is to say the third consecutive reduction from one year to the next.
The lower number of homicides committed in 1994 is mainly explained by 30 fewer homicides in the greater Montreal area. That is also why the number of homicides recorded in Quebec has gone down by 33 over 1993. In the case of the other provinces, only New Brunswick and Alberta have seen an increase in their homicide rates in 1994. Murders committed with a firearm continued to account for about one third of all homicides.
On the basis of the statistics, I do not think that there are valid reasons for looking at this issue all over again. Life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 25 years is a sufficient sentence. There is nothing to prove that capital punishment could save lives. On the other hand, the risks are greater that an innocent person could be sentenced to death. That is essentially my position.
Let us look again, if we could, at the main argument advanced in favour of capital punishment. Proponents of capital punishment think that it is a more dissuasive measure than life imprisonment.
We must, however, point out to them that for some people, such as fanatics and those acting on impulse, no sentence will be dissuasive. There was even an overall drop in the murder rate in Canada after capital punishment was abolished. Studies done to date indicate that the death sentence is no more dissuasive than the prospect of life imprisonment. The prospect of losing one's freedom for the rest of one's days is dissuasion enough.
It is through better control of firearms and alcohol consumption, greater attention to mental health, and a more effective battle against poverty and unemployment that we will cut down on the number of murders, far more than through bringing back the death penalty. There is no foundation for the belief that the death penalty will cut down on the number of murders.
Recently, in Senneville, near Montreal, a police office was killed while on duty, as he was about to arrest a driver for an infraction of the highway safety code. The murderer is still at large. Might the death penalty have prevented this tragedy? There is no reason to think so.
Still relying on data from Statistics Canada, in 1994 one police officer was killed in the line of duty, compared to two in 1993, one in 1992, and three in 1991. For the tenth year in a row, no federal or provincial correctional worker was murdered in the performance of his or her duties.
Perhaps the most valid argument against capital punishment is the risk of killing innocent people. No system can guarantee the infallibility of a ruling. There were cases in the past in which people were killed by mistake and, despite all the guarantees
provided by our modern system, the risk remains. A witness may be mistaken or lie under oath.
Our legal system is based on the credibility of witnesses. If all murderers were like Paul Bernardo and provided videotapes of their crimes, it would be different. In recent years, however, some people such as David Milgaard, Donald Marshall and Guy Paul Morin were wrongly convicted of murder. If capital punishment were still legal in this country, these three men would have been dead and buried a long time ago. The state would have become a killer without being able to correct its actions. We learned that, in the last two centuries, 343 people were wrongly convicted of murder in the U.S.
Of course, some cases, like the rape and murder of children, like the Bernardo case, are revolting. We must, however, keep in mind that not all murder cases are so shocking. It is not because of a few unusually revolting cases that we must take an extreme position that would apply to all cases of first degree murder.
Other factors such as the eventual rehabilitation of murderers argue against capital punishment. Commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment by order in council, as is proposed in the bill before us, would open the door to arbitrary decisions and would result in a loss of respect by the public for our judicial system.
The bill also proposes to give the judge who sentences a person to death the power to make a recommendation in favour of royal clemency, or to postpone the execution of the sentence for any reason and for an indefinite period. It is obvious that even the sponsor of the bill has doubts about the merits of the death sentence.
The amendments proposed by the Reform member for Prince George-Peace River also seek to amend the Young Offenders Act to impose longer sentences in the case of a murder committed by a juvenile. The bill provides for a sentence of 15 to 25 years in the case of a person convicted of first degree murder who is 16 or 17, and a sentence of 10 to 15 years in the case of person under the age of 16. The current maximum sentence is 10 years for all minors. In the case of a person convicted of second degree murder, the bill proposes a maximum sentence of 10 years and a minimum one of five years. The current act provides for a maximum sentence of seven years.
Current prison terms were just lengthened in December by this House. They better reflect the representations made to the standing committee on justice. Prevention and rehabilitation are much more effective, particularly in the case of minors, and the emphasis must be on adequate public awareness measures.
In short, I am completely against this bill, which would bring us back 20 years. I urge members of this House to do like me and to vote against this bill.