Mr. Speaker, after that moving testimony by my colleague from Macleod and the indictment that one has heard against this piece of legislation by the Minister of Justice, one would hope the Liberal backbenchers would think again, talk to their minister and ask him to reconsider what he intends to impose on Canadians.
There is no question in my mind that Canadians from coast to coast are absolutely appalled that the Minister of Justice has decided to water down section 745 a little rather than eliminating it entirely. Therefore I call on my colleagues on the Liberal government bench to do the honourable thing when it comes to a vote and vote down this legislation and call for the return of the private member's bill by the member for York South-Weston. That would be the honourable thing to do.
Take a look at this piece of legislation and how it affects individuals. We have just heard from the member for Macleod how it tears individuals, innocent Canadians, who have suffered horribly at the hands of criminals, how they have been torn apart and their lives shattered and how 15 years later they have to relive the horror and the tragedy; how they have to fight the government that is disposed to defend their freedom and their principles; how they have to fight the government that is supporting the criminal. They feel all alone in society and ask who stands up for them.
It is we, all of us in this House, who are supposed to stand up for them. That is why I think the members on the government side should do the honourable thing and defeat this piece of legislation and call for the return of the private member's bill by the member for York South-Weston which would repeal this section in its entirety.
Looking at the proposals by the Minister of Justice, he is now talking about having a superior court judge assess the situation and the application by the criminal to find out if it has a reasonable prospect for success. If he feels it does he can refer the matter to a jury. That in itself is an insult to the principle of juries in this country where we ask juries, peers of people who stand accused, to judge.
Now we are asking a judge to prejudge what a jury is going to hear. That seems to be turning our whole justice system upside down because juries are the people in this country who are given the right to decide, not superior court judges who will decide what juries will hear and what they will not hear.
Why are we putting the superior court justice in the middle of our judicial system where we depend on juries to pass impartial judgment on people who stand accused? Now we are going to put in the middle the superior court justice who is going to decide whether or not a jury should hear a case.
Of course, his judgment is going to be subject to the potential for an appeal and subsequent appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. Our whole judicial system has the potential to be totally caught up in the throes of reworking and rehashing something a judge decided at the time the sentence was handed out.
This crime was so heinous, this person should be locked up for 25 years without parole. If the judge decides that based on the evidence presented to him, surely Canadians expect the right to have that judgement rendered and carried through all the way.
Section 745 was introduced as the faint last hope clause and has become the open door clause for convicted murderers. The Minister of Justice should have closed it.
I think of what life sentences mean in other countries. In the United Kingdom for example a life sentence is a life sentence where someone will spend 25 years in jail and when he gets out he is on parole for the rest of his life. If he violates his parole conditions, he is back inside. He is subject to the government and to the parole conditions for the rest of his life.
When I think of Clifford Olson I am appalled how justice failed Canadians. Not only are we going to allow him to appeal his sentence after 15 years, but everybody knows he should have been designated a dangerous offender. However, the law allows such a narrow window for that application to be made that by the time the judgment is rendered and the sentence is passed the prosecutor forgets to apply for dangerous offender status. Therefore Mr. Olson and others like him will be able to walk the streets of this country absolutely and totally free after 25 years, perhaps sooner. Is that the type of justice that we feel Canadians expect? Is that the type of justice that this government feels Canadians want to have? I do not think so. The people I talk to certainly do not want that.
We need safe streets. People need to feel they can walk the streets at night without fear of murder, without fear of rape and without fear of robbery. We seem to bend over backward to help those who have murdered and raped yet we do nothing to help those innocent people who have been injured, who have been terrorized, who have been destroyed by these crimes.
The member for Fraser Valley West has introduced a victim's rights bill where we are going to start recognizing that these victims have rights and these rights should stand before the rights of the criminal. That is the type of legislation we should be talking about in this House.
We should not be talking about whether the person has committed one murder or two murders and one murder is fine and two is maybe a little bit worse. The Minister of Justice talks about good murderers and bad murderers and makes differentiations. Ask any family who has had one of its members murdered if they feel that their hurt is any less because that was the only murder committed by a criminal versus someone who has committed more than one murder. Ask if they hurt any less. I can assure the House that they do not.
The testimony of the hon. member for Macleod showed us that is the case. Therefore why is this government talking about statistics when we are talking about real people? We are talking about individuals who walk on the streets and individuals who should be walking on the streets but are in their graves today while the others are locked up and should stay locked up. Yet this government wants to turn those people lose on society.
I think of the Gingras case in Edmonton where I come from. Because he was a good little boy in prison we took him to the West Edmonton Mall for his birthday party and he escaped from his guards and murdered two more people before he was back in. Is this the justice system Canadians want, where we take murderers out for a birthday party to the shopping mall and to the amusement park in West Edmonton Mall so that he can have a good time while others never ever heal from the hurt and the tragedy?
This government has to think again. This government has to realize that Canadians want justice served. If government members will not do it at the next election, Canadians will find somebody who will do it. That is the point. The member for York South-Weston said to scrap the bill. They used political backroom deals to bury it and to bring forth their own piece of legislation.
Canadians see through that. Very definitely they see through that. They want a government that stands up and is accountable. We see this government. It does not matter if it is crime and punishment. It does not matter if it is the Somalia affair. It does not matter if the chief of defence staff stands up and says: "Mea culpa. Sure, I broke the spirit of the law but does it matter?" Of course it matters. Everything matters because we need to have some leadership and accountability in this country. It can start right here with the repeal of section 745.