Mr. Speaker, I am pleased once again to have the opportunity to represent the voice of the Canadian people in this debate on Bill C-45.
I am amazed listening to the separatist Bloc members and the Liberals across the way. I am amazed at how far removed their thinking is from the average Canadian on the street.
I sit here in utter astonishment as speaker after speaker stands up and basically says that the Canadian people out there do not count. They think this is good and they are going to do it their way. So much for democracy. So much for what the Canadian people think about this.
As a Reformer I will speak on behalf of the Canadian people. Although my words may fall on some pretty deaf ears in the House, at least the Canadian people deserve a chance to be heard and the Reform Party and I will speak on their behalf.
We are talking about Bill C-45. The majority of my constituents and millions of Canadians believe that section of the Criminal Code should be abolished because it serves no purpose. It is no deterrent for people who go out and ruthlessly take a life.
Bill C-45, the minister's pride and joy, introduces a few cosmetic changes at best.
Victims of Violence, CAVEAT, the Canadian Police Association and millions of Canadians want the section repealed. However, the Minister of Justice, just like the separatist Bloc members, have ignored their pleas and are pushing Bill C-45 through the House. It is a shame that a Liberal minister of justice cannot hear or chooses to ignore the cries of the Canadian people.
The bill makes a few amendments to section 745. First, the right of multiple murderers to apply for a judicial review for early parole will be removed. However, instead of making this provision retroactive so that it would apply to serial killers such as Clifford Olson and Paul Bernardo who are already incarcerated, it will apply only to those convicted of multiple murders after this bill comes into effect. If a person killed a bunch of people before the bill comes into effect they still have a chance. They can still apply. They are exempt from the bill.
Does the minister believe serial killers who are already incarcerated should have a better chance than those who will commit multiple murders in the future? Is that his logic? Considering what we have heard in the House today, as he sends speaker after speaker to support the bill, I suppose that is the philosophy of the Minister of Justice.
The minister has done nothing to prevent serial killers who are already in jail from getting their day in court and a chance at a reduced parole ineligibility period. He has done nothing. The bill is a sham.
Second, the bill would ensure that the murderer will have to convince a superior court judge that their application has a reasonable chance of success before they would be allowed to proceed before a jury. This sounds like a good measure. However, considering that applicants have had a 72 per cent success rate since May 1994 in having their parole ineligibility reduced, it is unlikely that a judge will find fault with a majority of the applications and dismiss them. In short, the new hurdle the Minister of Justice so proudly stands up to defend, which the Bloc so quickly supported, is really no hurdle at all. We will continue to see far too many section 745 hearings.
Last, Bill C-45 stipulates that a section 745 jury will have to reach a unanimous decision before the applicant's parole ineligibility is reduced. At present only two-thirds of the jury need to find in the applicant's favour.
The bottom line in all of this stuff is that section 745 should not exist at all. This is nonsense. This bill is nonsense. It does not reflect the wishes and the cries of the Canadian people in any way, shape or form. It is typical Liberal touch it up and they will not notice.
This bill was introduced as part of Bill C-84 in 1976 by the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce who was serving as the solicitor general for a Liberal government at the time. Bill C-84 abolished capital punishment and established two categories of murder, first and second degree. However, not too many people-and this is Liberal trickery-noticed the inclusion of section 745 review in the original bill,
As a result, Canadians have had to wrestle and deal with this provision for 20 years. Many Canadians believe that 25 years before being eligible for parole is not a suitable sentence for first degree murder. The polls have consistently shown, and this government will not admit it, that Canadians favour a return of capital punishment for those who are convicted of first degree murder, consistently. Right now almost 80 per cent of Canadians would welcome a binding national referendum on capital punishment.
These Liberals do not hear that. It is not in their philosophy. People are outraged that murderers are given a glimmer of hope after serving only 15 years. What glimmer of hope did these killers give their victims?
Speaking of victims, section 745 does them an incredible disservice. The whole judicial review process causes the revictimization of families and at times of entire communities. Gary Rosenfeldt, whose son was murdered by Clifford Olson, said the whole of section 745 is an insult to victims.
What do we have coming from this Liberal government? Simply window dressing with respect to dealing with section 745. As I said before, this comes as no surprise. The Liberals are constantly promoting the rights and privileges of criminals, constantly mollycoddling the very worse people in our society while victims are completely ignored. If the Liberals had any simple basic understanding of victims' rights, and they do not, they would have abolished section 745. They would not have had to come back to this weak-kneed pointless piece of legislation known as Bill C-45.
I would also like to take issue with this. This really bugs me. Bill C-45, this stupid bill, actually creates categories of good and bad murderers. It actually does that in reality. If you kill one person you will be entitled to a section 745 hearing. These are good murderers according to the Minister of Justice' understanding. If you kill one you are okay.
However, serial killers are not entitled to section 745 review because according to the justice minister's understanding these are bad murderers. It is truly unbelievable that the minister has actually quantified human life in this piece of legislation. He actually has set himself up as a person who can quantify whether one killing is better or worse than two killings. It is unbelievable.
According to this bill a murderer should be given a glimmer of hope if they kill only one person but any more than that and they will not get a review. The minister has set the quota at one life should at a future time they want an opportunity to reduce their parole ineligibility. It is disgraceful. It is reprehensible that the minister would sit down and draft his very own category of murderers, some deserving of leniency and some not.
I submit that one life is as important as two or three or four. If the minister wanted to differentiate between murderers he should have introduced consecutive sentencing. That is the way to deal with it. This would ensure that serial killers like Clifford Olson would never have a chance at parole.
It is time for the government to stand up for Canadians and their desire to have the justice system overhauled. It is time for the government to stand up for victims and against criminals. It is time for the government to stand up and do the right thing and abolish section 745. It should be ashamed that it has introduced such a reprehensible bill. It should be ashamed that it has ignored the views of millions of Canadians, particularly the views of victims' rights groups. I cannot support this bill. My party cannot support this bill. We will stand here speaking for Canadians and will oppose this stupid bill.