Madam Speaker, we will be supporting this amendment as it appears to be an addition to Bill C-41 and could not be brought in at this time without the unanimous consent of members of this House.
This amendment goes back to the conditional sentencing contained within Bill C-41. The particulars of that bill encourage the courts to use conditional sentencing. Since this bill was proclaimed there have been at least two occasions where convicted rapists have been allowed to walk free while their female victims are cowering in their homes because they are afraid to walk on the streets alone. It is absolutely unacceptable that this danger was brought forward at the time this bill was being examined at committee stage.
The government insisted on ramming this thing through and allowing violent offenders access to conditional sentencing. The government would not limit the provisions or the application by the courts of conditional sentencing and it still is not narrowing it. It is still not reducing the application of this portion of Bill C-41, the conditional sentencing portion.
What this amendment does is it simply reiterates what the courts already do. Do any of the judges release anyone on conditional sentence if they feel that the public is in danger? Of course not. What does this amendment do? It does not alter the discretion of the court to use conditional sentencing. It simply states that it must be satisfied that serving the sentence in the community would not endanger the safety of the community and would be consistent
with the fundamental purpose and principles of sentencing set out in section 718 and 718.2.
What can the people of Canada, who are concerned about violent crime, draw from this? The justice minister has once again bungled in creating this bill which allows violent offenders and rapists to walk the street as they do today without seeing one day of a sentence in jail. This is wrong and it is the wrong signal for this government, which brags about its care and concern for the rights of the victims, to be sending.
We have at least two rape victims cowering in their homes while their assailants walk the streets free on conditional sentencing. This amendment will do nothing to support that. It suggests to the judges that they do what they already do. Is any judge going to release someone on conditional sentence if the circumstances indicate that the individual may be a danger?
What does this amendment say to the judges? It says "You must be satisfied. You have not been satisfied in the past so you now must be satisfied. We do not trust you so we are putting this in the code which states that you must be satisfied that serving a sentence in the community will not endanger anyone. However, if it is your opinion that a rapist should walk free you can certainly go ahead and do it because we are not going to restrict the application of this law. No, we are simply going to cover our rear end because we are facing an election". The government wants to say that it has done something through this amendment to create a safer society. This is nonsense.
We in the Reform Party asked the justice committee if it would not consider restricting the application not only of conditional sentencing but alternative measures.
Violent offenders also have access to the alternative measures portion of Bill C-41. We introduced an amendment that would exempt violent offenders from access to alternative measures and it was denied. It was turned down. It was killed by the Liberal members who hold a majority on the justice committee.
Now we see where cases are being appealed in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario over conditional sentencing. This is what has moved the justice minister to take unprecedented action to ask unanimous consent of this House to bring in an amendment to Bill C-17 which has nothing whatever to do with Bill C-17 but which has a lot to do with the bungling that occurred back in Bill C-41. Very clearly this amendment is not going to restrict the discretion of the courts to free violent offenders on conditional sentencing, and that is what this is all about.
The justice minister is placing at risk innocent people by not restricting the courts from the use of conditional sentencing because they can continue to allow violent offenders to walk free, as has been the case with the two rapists I referred to earlier, while their victims cower in fear in their homes.
This is a do nothing amendment. When the justice minister had the opportunity to correct the error in Bill C-41 in the area of conditional sentencing simply by restricting it to non-violent offences he failed to do that. He refuses to do that just like he refuses to do anything to deny first degree murder as a shot at early parole after serving just 15 years in spite of the fact that hundreds and thousands of Canadians have lobbied this government through petitions and letters to our members of Parliament to eliminate section 745.
When it came time for the justice minister to make a decision he decided in favour of the criminal and against the victims of crime and the safety of society. He wants the criminals, the first degree murderers and others, to have a shot early parole just like he wants the violent offenders, the rapists of this country, to have a shot at conditional sentencing.
Why does the justice minister not consider the safety of society and restrict the application of conditional sentencing to non-violent offences? He would have the support certainly of the members of the Reform Party caucus and all members of this House because that would be reasonable. It is not reasonable to allow a rapist out free on conditional sentencing. It is not fair and it is not reasonable.
The deficiency of judgment expressed by the justice minister over the last three and half years runs like a current throughout many of his decisions and initiatives since he has taken up the justice portfolio. This is only one more example of the deficiency of judgment of the justice minister. He is refusing to respond to the cries of people across this land and the common sense of the majority of Canadians. He is refusing to respond to that.
He is going to continue to allow the courts wide application of conditional sentencing that has led to his concern to bring this about in the first place. What does it do? He is going to simply be able to stand up and say "We have done our best. We have issued a caution in the Criminal Code through this amendment to the courts that you must not use conditional sentence if you fear that conditional sentence will create a danger to society". Of course every judge in the country makes those considerations at the time of sentencing.
Yes, Reform members will go along with this but it will have absolutely no impact whatsoever. The justice minister had a chance to reduce the application of this portion of Bill C-41 and failed to do it. He will answer on the hustings in the next election for this degree of incompetence.