Mr. Speaker, I add my comments to those of the hon. member for Mississauga East who introduced this private member's bill dealing with consecutive sentences.
For some time now Canadians have been very concerned about what they see as a lack of justice in Canada. They are concerned that individuals who commit one, two or three crimes end up getting a sentence that is compacted in a concurrent sentence rather than getting three different sentences.
I am not saying everything is perfect south of the border but we see sentences that are consecutive. Individuals get sentences added to the first sentence. In Canada we see sentences packed into one sentence so that individuals who may have committed three or four serious sexual assaults end up getting a three or six year sentence as opposed to a three or six year sentence for each and every victim.
Basically that says to Canadians that only the first victim has any worth or value, that each consecutive victim has no value or worth, and that there is not a price to pay for having been a victim. I think Canadians have difficulty with that.
The attempt of the hon. member for Mississauga East to bring in consecutive sentences recognizes that Canadians want to see from their justice system that an individual who has committed a series of crimes is penalized for committing a series of crimes and not just for one crime.
The hon. member has good intentions. Her amendments add sections 2.1 and 2.2 to first and second degree murder. Canadians are concerned when they see people who have been given life sentences for committing either first or second degree murder ending up on parole. In some cases it is relatively early in their sentences, be it seven years or ten years.
When an individual in the circumstance commits a crime, whether aggravated assault or in very serious cases a second murder, they fail to understand the way the courts calculate the time spent before eligibility for parole. It does not seem to recognize the seriousness of the crimes committed.
Canadians are asking themselves how somebody can go out and murder an individual, get a life sentence without eligibility for parole after 10 years or 25 years, get out on parole, go out and murder again and not be given a life sentence that means life without parole.
I agree with my hon. colleague from Calgary Northeast that Canadians want certainty of sentence. They want to know specifically what the judge is talking about. They want to know that when somebody is given a sentence of five years they will spend five years of incarceration.
If judges were to say to Canadians that in certainty of sentencing they will incarcerate an individual for five years for having committed this crime, then they will give them two or three years of parole, and if need be in some situations they might even tack on a period of community supervision outside of parole, people would understand clearly what the penalty is of the crime.
However, when a judge gives a five year sentence and Canadians see this individual wandering the streets in two years or in eighteen months, they fail to see where justice is being served. If we are to have confidence in, faith in and support for our justice system, justice must be seen to be served. We do not have that today.
The hon. member for Mississauga East is trying to make some amendments to the conditional release act that show a certainty in sentencing, that do not leave it to some obscure calculation to determine when a person will be eligible for parole, that when a person is given a sentence for more than one conviction there is more than one sentence, that sentences are consecutive, that they are added on. The member for Mississauga East has attempted a very honourable thing. I commend her for her attempts to amend the conditional release act.
I ask that this private member's bill be given unanimous consent to become a votable bill.