Mr. Speaker, I cannot provide any specific explanation as to why youth crime is higher in Saskatchewan than in Quebec, in fact higher than anywhere else in the country.
The Reform Party has proposed a three step plan to deal with young offenders. The first step involves early intervention and prevention. The second is community based sentences for non-violent, non-serious crimes. The third is what I focused most of my discussion on, getting tough and having effective and harsh penalties to deal with repeat violent offenders who are not start getting the message currently.
We had a town hall meeting recently in Saskatoon. Advocates of the current system's remaining as it is were there and there was a young offender there who had committed repeat violent crimes over a period of five years. His opinion was “see, now I'm better”, but if our Young Offenders Act were working and effective, his first offence would have been his last. That is the type of justice system we need to prevent people from getting into patterns of repeat criminal behaviour.