Mr. Speaker, I wish I could say that it was a pleasure for me to rise today and participate in this debate on Bill C-45, but I find it is just the latest example of this minister's and this government's half baked justice policy that they are holding up to the people of Canada as a way of getting tough with crime when it does exactly the opposite.
However, I do appreciate the opportunity to point out to this government, on behalf of my constituents of Prince George-Peace River and on behalf of the majority of Canadians, that section 745 of the Criminal Code should be abolished.
I believe that Bill C-45 simply introduces more cosmetic changes. Over the debate of the last couple of days in this place on this piece of legislation-and I use that term charitably-many of my colleagues in the Reform Party have said that it is high time this government started listening to the people. Of course when that was said what we heard from the other side, amidst howls of heckling, was that the government is indeed listening to the people. I question that.
A poll was recently conducted and completed in my riding, which is virtually the entire northeastern corner of British Columbia. One of the questions the people were asked in this scientific poll was: "We are interested in knowing how you feel the federal government is doing with respect to criminal justice matters".
Interestingly enough, 56 per cent of the people said they felt the federal government was doing a poor job reforming the criminal justice system; 11 per cent more were uncertain as to how it was doing. Clearly two-thirds of the people of my riding feel either that the federal government is doing a poor job of addressing criminal justice issues or are uncertain as to exactly what it is attempting to do.
I view that as a clear indication that the people of my riding and I believe the people of Canada are growing increasingly concerned, despite what we hear from the government that crime rates are falling and the incidence of violent crime is going down. What I hear from the people as I travel throughout my riding and across the country is that they are increasingly concerned about crime.
Victims of Violence, CAVEAT, the Canadian Police Association and the majority of Canadians want section 745 repealed. It is that simple. I find it appalling that this justice minister and this government would not listen to, for example, the Canadian Police Association on this issue or on the issue of a referendum on capital punishment. Yet, during the debate on the gun control issue they said that the major reason why they were bringing in this preposterous gun control legislation was because the police association wanted it.
The justice minister conveniently uses the police association and its resolutions where it suits him but does not listen to them on other issues. He has ignored the pleas of these groups and he is pushing Bill C-45 through the House.
The bill makes a few amendments to section 745, and these have been recounted over the past few days. 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, the new measure will only apply to those convicted of multiple murders after Bill C-45 comes into effect. Therefore the minister has done nothing to prevent serial killers who are presently incarcerated from getting their day in court and getting a chance at a reduced parole ineligibility period.
Second, the bill will ensure that the murderer will have to convince a superior court judge that their application has a reasonable chance of success before they will be allowed to proceed to appear before a jury. This sounds like a good measure, but considering that applicants have had a 72 per cent success rate since May of 1994 in having their parole ineligibility reduced, it is unlikely that a judge will find fault with a majority of these applications and dismiss them.
Yesterday my hon. colleague from Wild Rose referred to this not as the faint hope clause but as the sure bet clause. He hit the nail right on the head.
In short, the new hurdle is really no hurdle at all. We will continue to see far too many section 745 hearings.
Finally, 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. However, in my view the bottom line is that section 745 should not exist at all.
Section 745 was introduced as part of Bill C-84 in 1976 by the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce who was serving as solicitor general at that time. Bill C-84 abolished capital punishment and established two categories for murder, first and second degree. However, not many people noticed the inclusion of section 745 in their review of the original bill. As a result, we have had to wrestle with this provision for some 20 years.
Many Canadians believe that 25 years before being eligible for parole is not a suitable sentence for first degree murder. In fact, polls have consistently shown that Canadians favour a return to the death penalty for those who are convicted of first degree murder.
Yesterday the hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell said that Reformers were attempting to instil a hate pattern in Canadians by advocating a return to the death penalty. In my riding of Prince George-Peace River, when I did a poll, 85 per cent of
the people favoured the return of the death penalty for cold blooded, premeditated first degree murder. That is what we are talking about today. We should be very clear about that.
On May 14 of last spring we had one hour of debate on my private member's Bill C-218, which would have brought about the reintroduction of capital punishment. One hour of debate. That was all the government deemed the debate on capital punishment was worthy of.
Last Friday one of my colleagues from Nanaimo-Cowichan introduced private member's Bill C-261 and there was an hour of debate on a referendum on capital punishment. In other words, it would have let the people speak. The government does not want to let the people speak on this and many other issues.
Government members know that people are outraged that murderers are given a glimmer of hope after serving only 15 years. What glimmer of hope did those murderers give to 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 section is an insult to victims. What is coming from the Liberal government? It is simply window dressing with respect to dealing with section 745. This really comes as no surprise. The Liberals are constantly promoting the rights and privileges of criminals and constantly mollycoddling the very worst people in our society while victims are completely ignored.
I see my time is almost up. I could go on all day talking about the government's lack of commitment to the victims of crime. The real point here is that the entire misguided and sad policy in the area of justice over the past quarter century by this government and governments preceding it has been built on a false premise that everyone in society is basically a good person. Everyone can be rehabilitated in the eyes of the member for Kingston and the Islands. It is always the fault of society that they go astray. It is always the fault of the parents or because they are poor.
There are some in our society who are inherently evil. That is a reality. I believe the majority of Canadians know that and it is why they want to see section 745 repealed. That is why I am voting against this piece of trash, Bill C-45.