Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-51 this afternoon, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.
Canadians have been waiting for many, many months to finally see legislation from our Minister of Justice. One would almost think that justice reform is not a very high priority with this government.
Bill C-51 is an omnibus bill which will make amendments to the criminal law. It is an attempt to respond to the changing conditions within our society. Much of what is being proposed is long overdue. Many of the proposals within this bill make sense and cause very little concern. Canadians must wonder why these issues have not been addressed before now.
It is unfortunate that this minister and this government continue to lurch ahead with half measures because of politics. Canadians continue to be shortchanged when it comes to improvements to our criminal law.
First I have a brief comment on the bill's proposal to amend section 186 of the Criminal Code. It concerns invasion of privacy under part VI of the code.
In the 1970s the federal government introduced a whole scheme to permit police to legally intercept private communications to assist them in their investigations.
The law permitted authorized personnel to install, maintain and monitor communications through the installation of devices such as bugs or wiretaps. It has taken over 20 years for the government to amend the legislation to also permit the authorized removal of those bugs and wiretaps. I suppose this falls into the category of “better late than never”.
Bill C-51 proposes to permit the operation of casinos on international cruise ships that are Canadian or operating in Canadian waters. Dice games will now be permitted and will be managed by the provinces and territories.
While it can be argued that casinos and dice games will improve the competitive nature of Canadian assets, there is significant opposition to gambling of any form in many parts of the country. I will be interested in the justice committee review of this legislation.
I understand that international cruise ships which operate within the Canadian inside passage route to Alaska already operate casinos within Canadian waters. It will be interesting to see just how this has occurred.
Another proposal would eliminate the requirement for a victim to die within a year and a day of an assault in order that a charge of murder, manslaughter or causing death by criminal negligence can be brought. With modern medical advancements it has become much easier to maintain victims on life support for extended periods of time.
Charges and convictions were often based merely on when the life support machines were turned off. Individuals who cause the death of others must be accountable for their actions, no matter how long the victims manage to hang on.
It seems impossible, but this government and its predecessors have been permitting killers to walk free just because their victims have managed to survive, often in a comatose or vegetative state.
One can only begin to imagine the anguish foisted on a family when they learn that the perpetrator has escaped justice because their loved one lived too long. This problem was first discussed 12 years ago and, as I have stated, some provisions are long overdue.
This bill contains a proposal to amend the offence section for the prostitution of a person under 18 years of age. It is amendments such as this that illustrate why it appears to take forever for this government to bring forth much needed legislation.
Bill C-51 proposes to amend section 212(4) of the code. I note that just last year Bill C-27 amended the same section. A number of thoughts cross my mind when I look at this. I wonder whether the previous Minister of Justice did not know what he was doing the first time around. I wonder whether this government even has a plan to address juvenile prostitution. I wonder why they refuse to consider increasing the penalty for engaging the services of our children.
Why will they not legislate an increase in the age of consent from 14 to 16 years for sexual activity between a young person and an adult?
Two weeks ago, while in my constituency, I attended a function at which Diane Sowden, the courageous mother of one of these sexually exploited young people, was honoured with an award from the attorney general of British Columbia for her tireless devotion to these issues. I have presented numerous petitions in this House on her behalf, but still nothing from this government.
I have similar concerns over amending section 742.6 of the code. Again I wonder whether the previous Minister of Justice got anything right during his term in the position. Section 742.6 came into being through Bill C-41 in 1995. It concerns the very controversial conditional sentencing provision whereby criminals are permitted to serve their sentences at home to avoid the costs of incarceration.
In spite of Reform Party proposals to limit conditional sentencing to non-violent and non-drug offenders, the former minister maintained that he knew better and made it quite clear that he was not open to changes.
Nevertheless there was soon public outrage over the weakness of the legislation. Violent criminals were being released back into the community almost every day without serving any time in jail for their crimes.
The former minister of justice appears to be joining in the Prime Minister's mantra of don't worry, be happy. Perhaps he was auditioning for the role.
Eventually pressures became so great that he was compelled to amend his conditional sentencing legislation. But did he limit it to non-violent, non-drug offenders? No, he cranked up the spin machine to con Canadians into thinking that he was making major improvements when in reality he was only tinkering, again.
In Bill C-17, which was passed in 1997, he tried to persuade our courts to pay more attention to community safety when considering conditional sentencing. But even today we find hardened and dangerous criminals still receiving this Liberal perk of serving a sentence in the comfort of their own home.
For example, we have recently seen police raising serious concerns over losing the battle against organized crime. Canadians have witnessed vastly increased violence among biker gangs as they fight over control of criminal activity.
The solicitor general has been quick to board the political bandwagon to announce a strategic partnership with the provinces, the police and customs officials. I wonder what he must think and what he can say when recently a member of the Hell's Angels was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to serve his time in the comfort of his own home.
This government is once again amending the conditional sentencing legislation but as usual it is failing to properly address one of its most fundamental flaws.
Last but not least, the minister wants to change the accelerated parole provisions. They messed with sections in Bill C-45 in 1995 and that same year in Bill C-55 they reduced parole eligibility to one sixth of the sentence. They had another go at it with Bill C-95 in 1997 and now they want to change the section again to exempt organized criminals from receiving such lenient early parole eligibility.
In their rush to reduce prison populations they changed the law to permit the release at one sixth but now realizing that organized gang members are not very nice people, they say they should serve a little more time than that. Reality, what a concept.
Perhaps they should consider truth in sentencing. Many citizens are disillusioned with our justice system just because of instances such as this whereby the government acts irrationally, without forethought and with purely political motives.
If criminals were properly sentenced and served those sentences citizens would be much more inclined to understand and support that process.
I would like to address the funding problems of the RCMP we are having in B.C. RCMP boats are tied up, helicopters are grounded, and there have been overtime bans. My riding is in the city of Surrey, a large city of over 300,000. It is the largest detachment of the RCMP in Canada. Frontline officers have serious concerns about their abilities to provide adequate services and protection to the public. My constituents would like some answers.
The attorney general of British Columbia is now talking about getting rid of the RCMP altogether and forming a provincial police force. He has been requesting a meeting with the solicitor general to discuss these funding problems. Maybe they could meet on an airplane.
I have asked the solicitor general what he is doing about the problems with the violent crimes linkage analysis system in B.C. I have not received any answers. I see today in newspaper reports that the Minister of Justice is now concerned that her youth justice proposals may be in jeopardy unless she can pry some money out of the Minister of Finance.
She did not seem so concerned about that last spring when she unveiled her proposals amid much fanfare and glossy brochures. I have to wonder if this is just another example of a whole lot of talk and no action.
Now instead citizens are told that murderers are to receive life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years only to learn later that there is a chance of parole in as early as 15 years. They are told that the government is getting touch on crime by increasing sentences only to discover the same government is reducing the period of eligibility for parole to only one sixth of the sentence.
They are told that the government is seriously interested in attacking organized crime. Then they see drug dealing gang members serve their sentences at home.
I have serious reservations over some provisions of this bill. Some elements are long overdue and that is a travesty in itself. Other aspects are a result of this government's again changing its own legislation within months because instead of getting it right the first time it waits until there is a public backlash. And in some cases this government once again only goes half way toward addressing the problem.
Unless this legislation is amended in the areas of juvenile prostitution and conditional sentencing I will be opposing it.