Madam Speaker, since this is the last intervention I think it is only fair that I summarize what I have seen and heard in this House about Bill C-211.
It was not me as an individual member of Parliament who decided to sit down one day to write a bill and develop a piece of legislation for this House which would prevent individuals on parole from preying on our communities by way of giving the police the empowerment to arrest them, it was the police themselves who approached me, gave me this idea and said there was something sadly lacking in the Criminal Code of Canada. They asked if we could fix it. I said “Yes, we will do that for you. We will take this to the House. It all seems fairly reasonable”. Then we hit the usual brick wall.
We hit the brick wall of mediocrity. We hit the brick wall of liberalism. We hit the brick wall of a lack of intelligence with members on the other side saying “We think you have a good idea here. Maybe we should pursue it, but, gee whiz, there could be a charter challenge. We must never challenge the charter”. That is the Liberal mentality that we have here.
Thus, in this country the prisoners have the right to vote. Why? Because a judge in his wisdom, I think it was Howard Wetston in Manitoba, said that under the charter of rights and freedoms prisoners should have the right to vote.
When we came back to this House what did the government say? Yes, the charter of rights and freedoms should apply to them. After all, we do not want to challenge that. So today prisoners have the right to vote. I disagree with that.
We have criminals today distributing obscene material on young people. A judge in this country not too long ago said “It is their unfettered right to distribute it because the charter of rights and freedoms gives them that right”.
Then we have government members on the other side, sitting back like they are today, saying “That must be acceptable because some judge made that decision under the charter of rights and freedoms”.
What kind of society are we going to end up with in this country when the government says, according to some judge, that if it is in the charter of rights and freedoms then it is free for all to do whatever they want? In fact, the legislators of this country are the ones who make the decisions. It is not the judges and the lawyers who are out there for personal gain, it is the legislators. Unfortunately this government's feeling is that legislators are merely to take the decisions of the court system and apply them. That is wrong.
Bill C-211 was developed to protect the public, to protect young people so that when a pedophile is out on parole sitting in a playground and police recognize the individual, they can whip him up like that, and scoot him back off into prison.
I hear from the other side arguments like “We don't want to give the police extra authority. We don't want to give the police the ability to arrest somebody without getting a warrant, do we?”
I cannot believe where this government comes from at times. I am ashamed at times to listen to the debate from the other side.
Politicians without the courage of their convictions are not good politicians at all. Politicians who leave the court system to make their decisions for them are worse than poor politicians.
That is not why this party is in the House of Commons. This party came here, largely, on several very important agendas. The criminal justice system was one of them. It is now a legal industry in this country.
Time and time again we repeat ourselves. What is more important in this country, criminal rights or the rights of victims? What is more important, the rights of criminals or the safety and security of the people in this country? That is what these kinds of issues are about. A member opposite is shaking his head. He thinks this is wrong.
We are aware of a situation which happened recently in British Columbia concerning Howie Slaunwhite. He is an individual I have spoken with a number of times. He said a fellow came into his life who sexually molested his daughter. Howie took a bat to him, which I think was a darn good idea and I am not ashamed to say so. The criminal went to prison. He hired a lawyer, for a fee of course, and they got a conviction. Howie broke the law. The judge charged him $42,000 which he cannot afford to pay. He has to pay another $15,000 on top of that in legal fees. I do not think the government sees the consequences of these things.
Every day I hear people say that if someone gets into their house and molests their wife or daughter they will take the law into their own hands because the law is not doing a good enough job. Perhaps that is wrong. Perhaps they should wait for the police or wait to see if the lawyers or judges can do a better job. Howie, as a father, said no to this. He thought the intruder deserved a few whacks and he gave them to him.
The issue here is that this person was guilty of breaking the law. But why does a judge turn around and bilk a person who cannot afford $42,000? Why is the charter of rights and freedoms all for fairness to the individual criminal? I do not know.
It appears that Bill C-211 is going to be defeated because the majority government has spoken against it. I know there is not much individuality on the other side. They were told to vote against it. They are afraid of a charter challenge. The police and victims say they want it, but that is not good enough. There has to be another kind of profound influence. The charter of rights and freedoms may challenge it.
I feel sad that a country like this, which once had a great criminal justice system, now has a legal industry. I feel sad for the victims of crime who watch every day as prisoners get overtime pay, the right to vote, the right to sue—