Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan there have been many incidents which highlight the fact that the Young Offenders Act is not working and needs to be changed. The most recent involves Tasha Pederson. She is the owner of a small hairstyling shop in Cassidy which has become the target of a group of youth intent on vandalizing her establishment.
To date, this businesswoman has had to pay over $500 in repairs to property that these youths have damaged on several occasions. That might not seem like a lot of money to the Liberal MPs who recently spent that amount of taxpayer money for each night they stayed in a posh Italian hotel, but to this woman it means the difference between paying her suppliers and putting food on the table for her family.
However, the truly sad part in all this is that the local RCMP is powerless to do anything about it because the Young Offenders Act does not apply to youth under the age of 12 and these young vandals know it.
Rather than address situations like these, this do nothing justice minister has stayed the course again and ignored the justice committee recommendation to lower the age at which a youth can be charged.