Madam Speaker, I am here this evening to address Bill C-219 proposed by the hon. member for Wild Rose.
Unlike the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, I am not here to talk about funding, lack of funding, deficits or cuts.
I would first like to applaud the member for the concern he has brought to Canadians about the problem of automobile theft. However, like the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, I am an attorney. One of the first things I learned in law school is that before one cites one part of the act one should read the entire act.
I would like to support the parliamentary secretary for justice and also the hon. member for Berthier—Montcalm. I will not repeat what they have said. However, I would first like to look at the legislation itself to let Canadians know that the Liberal government and the Criminal Code as it exists today protect us.
The hon. member's bill provides for a new indictable offence. He talks about the use of a stolen motor vehicle and its relation to any offence.
Bill C-219 is proposed to be put in as section 334.1 of the Criminal Code which is immediately after section 334 which deals with the punishment for theft. We have talked about that already today.
Punishment is twofold under section 334. If my car, which is an old car and is ready for the junkyard, is stolen and it is under $1,000 the person who steals that car has committed an offence but it is under $5,000 so it is a summary conviction offence. If the car of one of my neighbours up the street, a brand new car, is stolen and it is worth more than $10,000 it is subject to an indictable offence. Our Criminal Code does take into account the seriousness of the offences.
Immediately after 334.1 comes 335 which deals with what we commonly know as joyriding. This is one of the things the hon. member raised, the problem of joyriding and the fact that a lot of young people tend to take cars for joyrides.
What section 335 talks about is taking a car without the consent of an owner. The hon. member's bill talks about using. Does that mean without consent? Does it mean with consent? What does it actually mean? I think when we are drafting legislation we need to look at the language very carefully. Under section 335 the act of joyriding is a summary conviction offence, not an indictable offence.
The hon. member mentioned that we have a lot of youth crime. Perhaps I have missed something but youth crimes are dealt with under the Young Offenders Act and punishments for youth are dealt with in the Young Offenders Act. I do not quite see how Bill C-219 would deal with the alleged problem we have with 14 year olds.
We look at this bill as trying to get all people involved as parties to an offence. Under section 2 of the Criminal Code any person who actually commits an offence, does anything to aid a person to commit an offence or abets any person committing an offence is guilty of an offence.
In addition, persons who have a common intention to carry out an offence or what could end up an offence are also guilty of an offence. So already the person who happens to be using the car while an offence is being committed, but we are not sure if that is indictable, summary, or hybrid, is already taken care of.
The other thing that Bill C-219 tries to address is attempting to commit an offence. Canadians will think it is a good thing we are doing something to get those people who are attempting to commit an offence but again this matter is dealt with in section 463 of the Criminal Code. Once again it makes a distinction between indictable offences and summary conviction offences.
If a person is attempting to commit a crime that is an indictable offence then an indictable punishment will apply. If they are attempting to commit a summary conviction offence then a summary conviction penalty will apply.
Bill C-219 talks about flight following the commission of an offence. Section 23 of the Criminal Code already deals with punishment where a person has attempted to commit an offence and then is an accessory after the fact. Moreover, if the person is an accessory after the fact to murder then that is an indictable offence.
It is terrible when people are killed, as the hon. member pointed out, but the Criminal Code already deals with these provisions.
Under section 249 the dangerous operation of motor vehicles is dealt with. It does not make any distinction whether the car has been stolen, whether it is owned, whether it is with consent or without consent, whether the person is under or over 14. It deals with punishing people who dangerously operate any motor vehicle.
If that dangerous operation of a motor vehicle involves bodily harm there is also a more serious offence and should that dangerous operation of a motor vehicle end up causing death, those provisions are dealt with strongly.
I commend the hon. member for his concern about automobile thefts but the provisions are already present in the code. I concur with my colleagues on sentencing. The whole area of sentencing must be looked at within the act itself.
Under section 718 of the act the purpose and principles of sentencing are clearly established for all Canadians to see. Many issues are dealt with and perhaps the most important one, as my other colleague said, is accumulative punishment which is something that should be left to the discretion of the court.
In light of these comments and concurring with the parliamentary secretary and the hon. member for Berthier—Montcalm, I urge members not to support Bill C-219.