Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Surrey North.
I just want to make a few corrections for the Liberal member opposite who just spoke. He said that Reform has not given many concrete suggestions. How totally inaccurate that is. Look at what happened to the victims bill of rights that was passed in the House. The Liberals consequently swept it under the rug. Listen to what we said about DNA samples and how they should be treated just like fingerprinting to give the police an adequate tool. The Liberals dismissed that out of hand. Time after time we give positive suggestions and they are completely disregarded. For him to say that we are not giving positive suggestions is totally inaccurate.
This afternoon we are dealing with a topic of great concern to all Canadians right across the country. As I go through my speech I know the Liberals will say that I am using examples that are not representative of our justice system. That is again totally inaccurate. The examples that I will relate are good examples that illustrate what is broken and what needs to be fixed. The Liberals should be listening very carefully.
The first example is Billy Jo who was not hungry to see the man who raped her rot behind bars. However she did not expect him, a few weeks after his conviction for rape, to be at her local grocery store. She said “I expected him to be in prison”. She is 24 years old and lives near Windsor, Ontario. She said “I was amazed and very angry to see him there. My first reaction was to protect my children. I was scared for my kids. He had never seen them before and I didn't want him to. I shoved them under my coat and I rushed out”.
This man received 18 months of house arrest. Why? It was because of the government's policy, the thing it is so proud of, of conditional sentencing which allowed this person to spend not even one day behind bars for a brutal sexual assault. That is a symptom of what is wrong with our justice system.
Let us put this in context. What is the primary purpose of government? In a civilized society the primary role of a government is to provide for the peace and safety of its citizens. When Reform chose this topic today and wanted to have the government discuss it, it was striking at the very heart of why we organize ourselves in a civilized society.
We need the rule of law. We need proper enforcement of the law. We need to live by rules that we have all agreed upon, and they must be properly enforced so that the citizens of a nation are free to pursue their lives.
I will relate three principles today that I believe must be used to test to see whether our justice system is the proper justice system. First, the laws must simple, clear and easy to understand for everyone in society. If the laws are too complex and not easy to grasp they will not be respected. Those laws must be fair.
Second, the laws must be enforced equally. If they are not enforced equally and if every citizen is not treated equally before the law, that law will not be respected. There must be no exemptions. There must be no special status for certain people under the law.
The third principle is that if the laws are broken, there must be clear consequences or punishment. If we do not have that in our justice system, we will not have the respect for the law that we should have.
Because this government is not taking those three foundational principles into consideration when it passes laws and enforces those laws, we are having the problems we are having. They are three basic principles of justice. That is why we are debating this topic today. This government has failed in implementing these principles in the legislation and in the enforcement of that legislation through the country's law enforcement agencies.
The laws are too complex. I have had a lot of dealings with the gun registration system. It is not fair and it will not be respected. It is much too complex for one thing. There are 128 pages of legislation with almost as many pages of regulations which were brought in. The Liberals a couple of weeks ago defended it by saying it is no more complex than the Income Tax Act. Just think about that type of defence, saying that it is no more complex than the Income Tax Act.
Another thing I know about that system is that someone can get up to 10 years for not registering a firearm. It may be a firearm that is lying in the basement of their house. It may be an antique. It may not have been looked at or used for a long time. To be made a criminal and to be imprisoned for 10 years because of that is totally unacceptable. It causes people to disrespect the law.
There is the example I already gave of 18 months not even in closed custody for a brutal rape. Compare those two. That is why people ask questions about what is going on.
Again the firearms act will not be applied equally to all citizens. Citizens of a certain race living in certain areas will not have that law apply. The justice minister said that we have one law for all but it will be flexible in its application. There is a problem right there.
There are certain provinces wanting to opt out of the Young Offenders Act. Over half of the population of Canada, the provinces that represent over half the people of Canada want to opt out of the registration system. There is a problem when a government is trying to impose something on people that they are resisting. They have not agreed that this is a law which they want.
Let me talk about another very recent example in my riding. A horrific murder took place approximately a month ago. A young mother was killed by her husband. The house was burned. Her body was found later. The trial is not over, however when the man was put under arrest, he was released on bail. What would be an appropriate bail to set for someone like this? Do you know what it was set at, Mr. Speaker? Three thousand dollars and he was let out. That man is walking the streets today. Not only that, but the judge gave him custody of the children. The people in that community are very angry. They are very agitated that we have a justice system that would allow for this kind of thing.
Mr. Speaker, you do not know the agony it has caused me as these people contact me and relate their concern. They question a system that is going to allow for this kind of thing.
The law needs to be seen as fair to all and applied properly. Members can look at the case that I have just sketched very briefly. I will not go into detail. Look at it through the eyes of the victims. The parents of this woman who was killed see what is going on. They are absolutely shocked.
What about the terrible murder which took place in the southern part of my riding where these people lured an elderly gentleman out and brutally killed him as he tried to help them with their vehicle. What happened to them? This was murder. They were punished and are out two and a half years later. We have huge problems.
I have visited the inmates in the prisons across Canada. I have asked them what advice they would give me as an MP in the House of Commons. These are inmates in the prisons. Several of them have told me voluntarily “I wish they would have gotten tougher with me sooner. When I started acting up as a young person, I wish they would have done something”. People who have fallen afoul of the law, who have received sentences from 10 to 25 years are saying why do we not get tougher sooner with young offenders.
I am not even half done my speech. There are so many things which I think are important. I will try to squeeze them in later in the day. All of these things have to be put into perspective.
I wanted to talk about the family and the need for strengthening the family in Canada. We need to have this balance. We are not just talking about becoming tougher. We have to apply the law fairly. There are other aspects. I will emphasize them later on in the day. I hope I will have time to do that.
This whole topic and the three principles I have related need to be emphasized over and over. I wish the Liberals would test their laws by them.