Mr. Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to this bill. I should apologize to you and the House for not being able to be here at 5.30 p.m. to present it myself. However, I am living proof that a country boy should not dare rent a car in a big city because he will get lost, and he did. I was a little late getting here and I do apologize for that.
I thank my colleague from British Columbia for presenting this bill on my behalf. I do appreciate the interest that was shown in what we are attempting to do.
However I am a little dismayed. Once again we see a bill presented that completely meets the criteria to be votable. I am really wondering why we have in our procedure a committee whose purpose is to make certain that a bill meets the criteria before it can be declared votable. Once again, even though it met the criteria, a handful of MPs decided on behalf of all Canadians that this bill was not worth being voted on. Whether the bill is good or bad is beside the point. The point is that it should be debated fully and everyone should have an opportunity to vote on it.
I am disappointed that the governing body, the Liberals, would not allow this bill to be votable because the justice minister herself has been quoted a number of times from her speeches about the extreme need to take care of this section of the Criminal Code. I was surprised to even have the opportunity to bring this bill forward because according to all the news reports, this was something that was going to be accomplished by the justice minister in the fall. It should not surprise me. Surprise is the wrong word. It is no surprise when the Liberals decide to promise that something will be done and it does not happen. That is old stuff.
I have heard a lot of people say that we need to make certain we do not put legislation in place that would cause the justice system to crumble here or there. I would like to remind the House that we have to start listening to Canadians. We have to make changes to this legislation that reflect Canadians' description of a good justice system. That description today does not fit in the minds of a big majority of Canadians. They are an unhappy lot with the justice system. That is quite obvious and any members who would doubt that, I would challenge them to go to any street corner in their ridings and find out for themselves.
The system Canadians are looking for is one that would put a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of the victims and the victims' survivors. It is high time we had a system that said that the needs and rights of victims of crime are a little more important than the rights of the criminal and the perpetrators of the crime. That is what Canadians want to see. That is what I was attempting to do by introducing this bill. I want to see that the Canadian people, the ones who pay the bill for this justice system, get what they desire.
Even the governing body would have to admit that there is an unhappiness among Canadians. Otherwise we would not have CAVEAT, CRY and FACT and thousands of Canadians who belong to victims groups fighting for their rights to be recognized in a stronger way. That is what must begin to happen. Sooner or later it will have to start happening.
To deny this bill to be fully debated and voted on is wrong. To deny any bill that meets the criteria and tries to address the needs of victims is wrong.
The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that there are the Ward family and other families whose loved ones come under this section of the Criminal Code and therefore justice was never served. If there is one thing that victims deserve and survivors of victims deserve, it is the peace of mind that after the horrible tragedies that they have gone through that at least justice has been served. This government for many years now has failed to address that. It is time that we start doing it. It is long overdue.
Once again, I thank those who supported the idea that this should be discussed fully and debated. I for one will never ever forget the fact that there are two parties to every crime, the criminal and the victim. As for me, my support and my efforts will be to the benefit of the victim at every opportunity.