Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to the words from the Bloc member from Portneuf. He is a member of the Bloc who I have a great deal of respect for, his separatist bent notwithstanding. The member has been to my riding at my invitation. I said, with my tongue very lightly in my cheek, that he should see what the best part of the country looks like before he gives it up.
I have a youth diversion program operating in my riding which has been very successful. The last time I spoke with the people running the program, they had run over 100 young people through the program and had only one incident of a repeat offence.
There is a lot of confusion about what the Reform Party really wants for young offenders. Our whole approach is divided into three categories. The first category is early intervention. I believe that is the kind of thing the hon. member supports. Early intervention would mean interceding early and perhaps preventing people from turning to crime or to some anti-social behaviour that might lead them to crime. It helps them to get the right type of assistance and aid.
The second category is the diversion program, which I talked about earlier. I am sure the hon. member supports that as well.
There is a third category that everyone likes to categorize the Reform with, the tougher hand. We believe that stiffer measures are appropriate for those young offenders who cannot be reached through early intervention, through diversion or through any other way, and who commit violent or anti-social offences over and over again. For the protection of society, and for the protection of other young people who are the number one victims of young offenders, we believe there must be stiffer measures for people who assault, rape, break into homes and beat elderly people.
Would the hon. member support the concept of this sort of tri-approach: early intervention; diversion to keep them out of court and give them a second chance; and, strict measures for those who will not benefit from the other two aspects and who continue to break society's rules? Does he agree that we do need to have some tough measures for the worst of the worst?