Mr. Speaker, I would like to return to what the hon. member for Nanaimo-Cowichan said before question period, around 1.50 p.m.: that juries have often acquitted or released people who, in his opinion, ought to have been sentenced, because the juries had certainly been deprived of the information they needed to make a just decision. That they had not been made aware of all of the points in a case, in testimony or in documents, or whatever, but at any rate were lacking information which, in the opinion of the hon. member, led to their acquitting someone accused of some crime, whether a heinous one or not, he did not specify.
I would just like to tell the hon. member from the Reform Party that, unfortunately-or fortunately depending on which side one is on-this is the way our Canadian justice system was designed. Justice for the people by the people. The justice of God will be meted out by Him, in due time, but in the meantime it is applied by human beings.
On my way here today, I heard a report about a recent discovery somewhere in Australia which indicated that, contrary to what everyone has believed, human beings have been on Earth for 175,000 years. Traces of their presence have been found. I would say that human beings have also been trying for 175,000 years to eliminate violence, murder and heinous crime. It is a human instinct to protect oneself, but we have not been successful.
If the Lord is a truly loving God, I know He will not put the Reform Party in power for the next four years. Should such a calamity come to pass some day, however, I am convinced that the Reform Party will not succeed in eliminating crime in Canada during their four years in power. I am pretty certain that the status quo will remain, the statistics will remain unchanged, as will everything else.
Unfortunately, I had the distinct impression from what the hon. member for Nanaimo-Cowichan said that he is not challenging section 745 but the basis of Canada's justice system.
It has always been said that under our system, we would rather let the guilty go than run the risk of convicting the innocent. If we look at the Reform Party and the courts they would establish, it is the other way around. Let us arrest everyone to make sure some of the guilty do not escape.
This is a reversal, not only of the burden of proof but of the situation. I would like to ask the hon. member if I understood him correctly. Is this what he had in mind when he made his statement? I wonder whether it would not be better to keep the system we have now. Quite frankly, I prefer that system to the one proposed by the Reform Party.