Mr. Speaker, on a beautiful fall day like today members, those Canadians in the gallery here and those Canadians who are viewing this on television will know that the fall colours all across our country are just starting to change.
If you were in my home of Edmonton, Alberta today and you were at the north end of High Level Bridge, the bridge that goes across the North Saskatchewan River, you would see a park at the northwest corner of High Level Bridge. In that park is a statue of a police officer. The police officer has his arm around a young lad of about seven or eight years of age. The statue of that police officer is pointing across the river at the University of Alberta.
Every time I drive by that location I am reminded of Constable Ezio Faraone. That park and statue are dedicated to Constable Ezio Faraone. Constable Faraone was a young policeman who was cut down in the prime of his life by someone who had very little to contribute to our society and over the course of his life had contributed nothing. He cut down a young man with much promise, a young man who had dedicated part of his life to guiding other young people. That is why that statue and that park are so poignant: because of the contrast of the two lives; one full of richness, promise and hope and the other life for whatever reason generally speaking of incarceration and despair.
We do not know what led to the incarceration of the perpetrator of the horrendous murder of Ezio Faraone and we are not suggesting that life is fair and that everybody starts with an equal chance. However the fact of the matter remains that there are very few of us in our country who do not appreciate the difference between right and wrong.
The problem in our country is not so much that people do not appreciate the difference between right and wrong, but we are not as a nation prepared to accept the consequences for having done wrong. That is really the nibs of it. We see this every day in our country. People elected or people appointed to positions of responsibility, authority and leadership abdicate that leadership role or that role of responsibility by sloughing off accountability for their actions to someone else or by blaming it on some incident in life that caused them to do whatever they did.
The fact is that the death of Constable Ezio Faraone, the snuffing out of that life of promise, of that young leader of men who was working on behalf of all of the citizens of Edmonton and of the larger community of our nation, was in part because of the actions of this House of Commons. It is the actions of this House of Commons and the laws that are promulgated herein which set the stage for what is likely to happen in our country.
In my opinion there is a direct link between the death of Constable Ezio Faraone at the hands of a convict on parole on the streets of Edmonton and the Solicitor General of Canada on October 6, 1972 who stood in the House and stated, using these words which can be checked in Hansard : ``From this day forward rehabilitation will be the driving raison d'être of our criminal justice system. It will not be the protection of society. It will be the rehabilitation of prisoners''. From that day forward, 24 years ago almost to the day just a couple of weeks from now, the criminal justice system and Correctional Services Canada have had to focus on the rehabilitation of prisoners.
That is not all bad. The vast majority of people who commit a crime or break the social contract that we as citizens have one with another are worthy of rehabilitation and should be given a second chance. Yesterday the member for Kingston and the Islands, who has a major prison in his constituency, spoke long and eloquently about the need and the reason for compassion, about how it is honourable and correct to turn the other cheek. We as parliamentarians have a responsibility that goes beyond ourselves.
When a perpetrator kills somebody or commits any major crime-we are now talking about capital offences in particular, murder-the charge is not written as victim v. defendant, it is the Queen, Regina v. defendant. This is because when someone kills another citizen, the crime is not only against the victim but also against the community. It is against the nation. That is why when a crime is committed it is the crown in opposition to the perpetrator.
When we gathered under the oak tree, or whatever tree we gathered under, as human beings to suggest and to agree one with another that we were going to give up some of our individual freedoms in order to ensure the greater good would be served, we then one with another created a social contract. That social contract meant that we would not have the personal liberty that animals do to kill whatever they choose for whatever reasons. We were going to conduct ourselves in a fitting manner. We willingly gave up some of our freedoms in order to enjoy the greater good.
The populations of various countries, including our country, vested with parliamentarians the authority and the responsibility to frame that social contract, to give it meaning, to give it foundation, to make it work. Therefore when we are called upon to generate the laws by which we will govern ourselves, we must use not only compassion but reason.
Our laws must have strength. They must state that certain crimes will be dealt with in the harshest possible manner. We are not talking about manslaughter; we are not talking about crimes of passion; we are not talking about a momentary fit of madness. We are talking about cold blooded murder. We are talking about an occasion where someone will take a hostage and kill a prison guard or policemen who are on the frontlines to defend us day after day after day.
We are not talking, as members opposite have said from time to time, of everybody who is in jail or of everyone who commits murder. We are talking specifically about those criminals who have been charged and convicted of first degree murder. This gives the courts many avenues of leniency. Not everyone who commits murder is charged with first degree murder. As a matter of fact, the vast majority is not.
When someone commits an offence that is judged by the legal community to be first degree murder, that person should be prepared to accept the consequences, which brings us right back to my first words. The problem is not that our society does not have the means and the wherewithal to maintain order and discipline. The problem is that we as a society do not have the discipline to accept the consequences of our actions.
Therefore if someone is prepared to commit first degree murder they should do so in the full knowledge that the sure consequence is that they will spend 25 years behind bars, not 24 years and not 26 years, 25 years. Twenty-five years was the quid pro quo for getting rid of the death penalty. We will not put anyone to death, but the people who commit first degree murder would do so in the full knowledge that by breaking the social contract, one with another, they will pay the full penalty.
That is why I would urge members opposite to support the original bill by the member for York South-Weston which would scrap section 745, which was was wanted by virtually every victim group and every police group, and not accept this watered down version of Bill C-45 presented by the Minister of Justice.