Madam Speaker, I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to this particular issue.
I was absent from the House for the first three weeks of this session as I was at home in Winnipeg assisting my wife with our new baby. I cannot take as much credit for it as she can, but I think it was a wonderful experience anyway.
However, I had an opportunity to be a spectator or an observer of what has gone on here in the last little while, so when the opportunity arose to speak on it I was only too eager to do so.
I am in my 11th year of elected office. I served two terms in the provincial legislature in Manitoba, in opposition, and I am now in my second term as a federal member. One of the things I learned very quickly when I was first elected was that it is very easy to inflame passions on all sorts of issues. In a sense, when people are in opposition, as I was, they are rewarded for it. When I used to not want to be quoted on something I would step out into the scrum and say something quiet, reasonable and considerate and I would be guaranteed never to appear in print.
However, if I went out and pounded my fists, screamed, yelled and talked about how outrageous and terrible it was, I would be guaranteed a clip. I would even get a camera. Unfortunately this is the environment that we live in. I say unfortunately because when I meet in committee outside of this place with members from all sides of this House that is not the discussion or debate that I take part in. I take part in a discussion about how we do things to improve things for Canadians.
Something every now and again goes wrong around here, but I am not sure what it is. I have only seen once before in my rather short experience that an issue kind of captures the attention of the media and we get sort of a self-reinforcing dance that goes back and forth between members of the opposition who glean all this wonderful attention and the media who have something to write about.
It surprises me when an issue accelerates the way this one has. It is a very serious issue. We have a charge from a group of Canadians that the RCMP have infringed their rights by acting in a way that is above and beyond the way in which they have to act. We have those complaints regularly. We have them in my own province and city. We have something called LERA, the Law Enforcement Review Agency. If somebody feels that a police officer has been abusive to them they have the ability to go before a citizen panel, lay a complaint and have that complaint acted upon. The system acts on their behalf. They do not have to incur any charges. They do not have to incur any costs. They go forward and say “A policeman assaulted me. A policeman abused me”. The system will then act to protect the rights of that citizen. That is the kind of country that we have.
We have a serious charge. I am not going to prejudge it. I do not know, as I was not there. I did not witness it. I have been on both sides of demonstrations. I grew up in an RCMP household. I have also worked on the streets with kids that were badly abused by the police. I am not going to prejudge this situation.
We have a process that has been in place for nearly 12 years that receives a thousand complaints a year and that adjudicates 300 a year. It has had 3,000 cases in its history. We have never felt it acted irresponsibly, under political direction or unethically. In this country we have always felt that the commission defended our rights.
I sit at home and watch the House talk daily about the dishonesty of people, members hearing things in the corners and running out to tell the media, or somebody hearing something in a gym. A member in the House stood up to apologize to somebody privately, saying “If I caused you any hurt, I am sorry”. The member ran into the hallway to tell the press. What are we creating? How are we going to do the work that we all really want to do if that is the kind of atmosphere that we create?
The solicitor general is not just my colleague, he is a friend. I have worked with him for a long time. Members opposite who have an interest in the issues have worked with us together. I know that those members know that the solicitor general would never interfere with the operation of that commission. It is not in his manner, demeanour or ethics. It is not the way he has conducted himself his entire life. That is the reality. This is the man I know and work with and this is the man members on the other side have known and worked with. Yet daily people stand in the House and impugn his motives and call him all sorts of outrageous things. I am shocked by it.
Ed Greenspon wrote an article in the Globe yesterday. I know Greenspon and I know his work. I like him. I think he is a good reporter. He said that the solicitor general's problem was that he spoke too long, he was too open and too honest. Is that a problem? Should we decide it is better to be duplicitous, to duck, weave and hide, not tell the truth and criticize a person in our national paper for being too open? There is something wrong in this debate.
The commission has to investigate. The students are not being charged with anything. The commission is there to act on their behalf. The commission has an additional $650,000. If it feels it needs to access more expertise and resources, it has the budget. It has the power to make those decisions and it always has acted independently. There is a point when we have to get off the merry-go-round and start to deal with the business of Canada in the House.
I heard today a question about fire safety on an airplane. People have died. There is a possibility that planes are unsafe. This is the first time in five weeks that somebody even spoke about it in the House. They are too busy trying to figure out new and cute ways to slander somebody. At some point we have to stop and consider what we are doing and let the process work. If the RCMP have acted improperly, they should be dealt with. If they have not, they deserve our support.