I hear rumblings from members opposite who think that should be the case. Good for them. I encourage them to make amendments to Bill C-37 to make changes to the patronage process that awards justiceships to Liberals.
Let us speak to the lack of priorities for a second if we may. On the Young Offenders Act we have seen no substantive changes coming out of the government since it was elected. We still have serious repeat offenders who are being treated with kid gloves under the Young Offenders Act. Yet the priority of the Liberals is to raise the salaries of judges.
Surely taking care of serious repeat offenders, young offenders who violate the act again, again and again, must take a higher precedence not only in the eyes of the Canadian public but also in the eyes of the technocrats here. That must be more important than a raise in the salary of judges in this land.
Regarding section 745, I heard the Liberals claim that they have made changes to it. Tinkering they must be, for otherwise I would not have had to appear on the steps of some of the Alberta courts in 1997 with Darlene Boyd, a mother who lost a child and wanted to make sure the individuals who killed her child would not be getting early parole under section 745. If there had been substantive changes to section 745, mothers like Darlene Boyd would not need to make appearances before courts hoping that the killers of their children would not be set free.
I also speak to the lack of priorities in terms of the backlog of the courts. Nowhere in Bill C-37 do we have an address of the issue of the backlog in the courts. Surely this is something of high priority and concern. Yet we see nothing to deal with the backlog in the courts. Once again, they are fast to want to raise the salaries of the judges under Bill C-37.
My fourth point in terms of lack of priorities is that we have prison overcrowding. Nowhere in Bill C-37 do we see an address of the issue of prison overcrowding. Yet they are quick to raise the salaries of the judges in this land.
Maybe it is that Liberal politicians do not like to actually make laws in the House. They would rather abdicate the supremacy of parliament to the judiciary. As a result, they only see fitting that taxpayer money and their salaries go toward paying judges because they write more laws and make the laws, not the Liberals who like to abdicate that ability.
My fifth point is that street gangs are becoming a problem. Nowhere in Bill C-37 do we see an address of the issue of the rise of street gangs, but it certainly speaks to the raise in judges' salaries.
My sixth point concerns lack of priorities and once again speaks to the whole idea of judicial activism. I touched lightly on the idea that the justices rewrite and write the law of the land. It should be a supremacy of parliament that is respected. We as members of the House of Commons should write the law, not the justices. This does nothing to speak to the judicial activism that goes on and what is happening now with the justices' writing the law rather than elected members of the House of Commons.
The six reasons I listed are all perfectly justified. They give a clear indication of the lack of priorities of the Liberals in criminal justice. They would rather raise the salaries of judges than deal with the six substantive points that should take precedence over raising judges' salaries.
Now I will speak to the money. When the money trail is traced that is usually when these matters get interesting. Let us take a look at the lack of priorities in terms of money. A lot of working poor do not have the luxury of colour cable TV but our prisoners do. By committing a violent act they earn the right to have colour cable TV but the working poor do not have that right.
It is a misappropriation of government resources to raise the salaries of judges while it continues to give colour TV to our prisoners. This money could be better allocated to hiring more judges or RCMP officers to hopefully get rid of the backlog.
There is a lack of priorities when free condoms are handed out to prisoners in jail. I do not see the purpose of handing free condoms to sexual offenders in jail. They are not supposed to be having sex in jail. That is not the whole point, yet money is spent on handing out condoms to prisoners. It is a Liberal priority to hand out condoms to prisoners.
Bleach is given to prisoners to sterilize their contaminated needles. They should not be using needles in jail. Once again that is a Liberal priority.
We have a situation where prisoners have the right to sue and use public funds to initiate charter challenges. How is this justified? How is a charter challenge on behalf of a prisoner more justified than hiring an extra RCMP officer or an extra judge to look after the backlog in the courts?
Money is spent to make sure that the prisoners have a right to vote with all the logistical costs involved in that process. Paul Bernardo had an opportunity if he so wished to cast a ballot in the last election, which I believe was in your riding, Mr. Speaker, if I remember correctly. How could anybody justify to a constituent in Kingston that money should be spent to allow Paul Bernardo to vote when there are other things that are much more needed?
Money is spent on pool tables in our prisons to make sure that our prisoners are entertained. There are many people in Kingston or in my home town of Calgary who would love to have unending amounts of time to play pool. They do not have that luxury because they have to pay taxes to the government and they have to work for a living. They cannot play pool as many hours as they might like to while away the day. Certainly Canadian prisoners have that ability because it is a Liberal priority.
Many other people would like to spend some more time on golf courses but the Liberals are allocating money to make sure prisoners have golf courses. I do not understand the logic in providing pool tables or golf courses. Why not hire more police officers?
The working poor would not be able to afford an exotic meal of eel, but such foods are shipped in to make sure the requirements are met for the Inuit serving time in our penitentiaries so that they have access to foods that are part of their traditional diets. We spend a lot of money on these types of perks and privileges for our prisoners.
It does not speak to the real needs of the Canadian justice system to hire more police officers or to hire more judges and not give them raises. Certainly none of these things speak to the priorities.