Madam Speaker, on the same point of order—and I do hope this time will not be subtracted from my speaking time—I would like someone to tell me where I went overboard, because I have followed the rules of debate ever since I was elected to this House on June 2 last.
Its handling of the young offenders issue is another example of how completely out of touch with reality this government is. The Liberal government plans to spend huge amounts on reforming the Young Offenders Act. The intention is laudable; we are always in favour of fighting crime.
Unfortunately, as mentioned repeatedly by stakeholders from various communities, the problem with the Young Offenders Act is not the act itself, but rather its enforcement.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, who is unfortunately not in the House, even stated candidly on national television that the main purpose of this reform was to placate public opinion, especially in western Canada, and give the impression the government was taking charge in this matter. But the fact is no policy can be worse than a policy guided by petty politics and by the desire to court public opinion in any given part of the country.
Everyone in the community agrees that the enforcement of the Young Offenders Act by Quebec is exemplary. Many stakeholders in Quebec and even outside Quebec have said so.
Not only does the Quebec government understand and enforce this legislation designed to rehabilitate young offenders, but it has applied the provisions of this act better than anybody else.
The Bloc Quebecois criticized this reform, because it is a reform for Reform's sake or worthy of Reform. The new bill on young offenders aims to brand young offenders. It thus runs counter to the objective of rehabilitation that is, that should be and that was at the very heart of the legislation on young offenders.
Rather than implement rehabilitation or education programs for young offenders, the Minister of Justice is capitulating to western pressure, in favour of sentences and their reinforcement and the hardening of the attitude to this problem, which affects us all.
In this regard, I must denounce in the strongest possible terms the attitude of this government, which penalizes the province, namely Quebec, applying its own legislation in the best way possible. The federal government owes $77 million for the application of its law in Quebec, and it has yet to pay one cent.
I find that unspeakable, and there is no shortage of words to criticize this attitude, which is totally unacceptable on the part of this government. True to form, the federal government is refusing to pay and it is logical to think that this matter will drag on, proving once again that the federal government does not honour its commitments.
I have given an account of the useless reform to the Young Offenders Act. Once again, there are a lot of other things to talk about. Now, I would like to move on to discuss Bill C-37, the Judges Act.
Without Bill C-37, what is the status of judges' salaries? On April 1, 1997, judges were entitled to an increase of 2.08%. On April 1, 1998, they had another increase of 2.08%, which is pretty good, given that many officials and public sector employees did not get such an increase. So that is something already.
The government decided to give the judges, with Bill C-37, a 4.1% increase effective April 1, 1997, retroactively, and another 4.1% effective April 1, 1998, also retroactive. This means an increase of over 13% in the salary of this country's magistrates.
At the same time, there are cuts to health, forced hospital bed closings, cuts to transfer payments to the provinces, and a surplus of $20 billion in the employment insurance fund. What happens? Instead of returning these funds to the most disadvantaged members of our society, to women and children living below the poverty line, they decide to turn it over to people who, important as they may be, are not necessarily in need of a 13%-plus raise.
This is not to say that the judges do not deserve a raise in salary, nor that they do not do a good job. What we are saying is that, in today's economic and budgetary context, it is high time to make some enlightened choices, it is high time to make some fair choices. The duty of all parliamentarians, of all governments, is first of all to give priority to the most disadvantaged members of society, and this government has steadfastly refused to do so, ever since 1993, when they were first elected as a majority government.
It is a matter of societal choices. We have seen all this. What are this government's priorities? The money goes to the judges, rather than the disadvantaged. Money is spent on denying Quebeckers the right to determine their own future. Instead of respecting their commitments and the very logic of the Young Offenders Act, which is the rehabilitation of delinquent youth, it has been decided to brand them as criminals.
Those are three examples of the lack of direction, of the lack of wise choices, and the lack of judgment demonstrated by this government in the area of justice.
In closing, let me say that this is proof of how much this government is out of touch with reality. I hope that, when the time comes to make choices, and to vote on this, all of my colleagues in this House will realize that this request for appropriation absolutely must be turned down.