Madam Speaker, I listened attentively to the remarks of the hon. member across the way. I want to tell the House how profoundly I disagree with many of the things he said. He is making this country appear uncaring. He is making us into something other than Canadians, and he is wrong. All Canadians are proud of the great record that we have in terms of our crime rate, which is much lower than many others, and so on.
Some people across are going to heckle.
The crime rate has fallen 1 per cent for the fourth year in a row. Violent crime fell 4 per cent, the third decline and the largest drop since 1962. The homicide rate has dropped 3 per cent, reaching its lowest level since 1969. Minor assaults have dropped 3 per cent. Sexual assaults dropped 21 per cent. Homicides involving firearms dropped 10 per cent.
We heard comments from the hon. member across, somehow trying to draw a parallel between the situation in this country and the civil war that occurred in the Soviet Union under the white and red Russians. That is what he said.
Yes, the member across the way has said it, it is so much rhetoric. That is what we have just heard from the member across the way.
Finally, he told us that the situation in Canada resembled, or could resemble, that in Rwanda. Such statements are insulting.
Some hon. members across are displaying, by a show of hands, the number of murders occurring in a given community. They want to stop others from speaking, and that is typical of the Reform Party. They think they have a monopoly on the truth.
Canadians know what they are all about. It is a game of fear and hatred that they are trying to promote, Canadians one against the other. That is wrong. That is not the type of country in which we live. Notwithstanding the best efforts of the Reform Party, it is not the country in which we will live.
The hon. member who just spoke talked about capital punishment, about having a binding referendum on capital punishment.