Mr. Speaker, it is a real opportunity for me to be able to speak to the youth criminal justice act. We can only hope there is some justice in this act.
I do not think there is any justice when on a regular basis the House leader of the government leaps to his feet and moves closure on absolutely anything he chooses. Here we have another bill that is at least 190 or 200 pages long. We have had up to this point less than five hours of debate on it, and the House leader comes into the House and says that there is important stuff on the agenda. We have yet to see any of this important stuff. We have all looked over the agenda, the order paper and the Projected Order of Business, and none of it seems that crunchy.
One would think that an amendment to the youth criminal justice act would be worthy of more than six or seven hours of debate. There are 301 members in the House. How is it possible for this bill to be adequately debated at second reading in less than seven hours?
The short answer is that it is absolutely not possible. It is just another one of the government's absolutely arrogant, terrible, miserable ways. I am searching for a word because I am trying to keep within parliamentary language. It simply says that it has the majority and will use closure whenever it wants.
There was a time when closure was only brought to bear under the most dire of circumstances. It was something that had never been used in the House. For years and years and years closure was not a tool. We have to thank Pierre Elliott Trudeau for the unabashed use of closure. He used to say “It is 3 o'clock on Wednesday. I think we will call closure. Why not? We will call closure”. He did not need any more reason than that and the Liberal House leader today does not seem to need any more reason than that.
The member for Scarborough—Rouge River in his speech talked about how we must prevent youth crime and how penalizing young people was not the answer. Let us go along with the assumption that people should be held accountable for their actions. That is on the basis that I want the House to think about the remarks I will make on behalf of one of my constituents.
About four years ago I was going through downtown Leduc and I stopped in a little shop called Crafts and More. I went in and introduced myself as the member of parliament for Wetaskiwin and met a very nice lady named Donna Rowe. She said “Am I ever surprised to see you. You are the first federal politician who has come to see me in my shop. As a matter of fact your visit is quite timely because I have a story to tell you”.
This is Donna Rowe's story. I want the House to bear in mind that Donna Rowe is not talking about penalizing anyone. She is talking about one of the other words in the bill and that is justice. She is on a search for justice.
Two young people in their early teens who were known to the police—in other words they had records—broke into her late model, half-ton truck with a camper on top. It was custom painted to match her trailer. It was used in her business and was her sole vehicle. It was also used as a family vehicle. It was an essential part of her life.
These two young people cannot be named because they were under the age of 18 and therefore apparently not responsible for any action they took. We might think that is a fairly bold statement, but as the House hears what I have to say I believe I will bear that out.
They took her vehicle. That can come about in a lot of different ways. They were not, by the way, but let us suppose they were barefoot, there was snow on the ground, the vehicle was running, the door was open, and it was nice and warm in the truck.
No, they smashed the window. They got in. They hot-wired the truck. They got it running. They drove it until it would not drive any more. Then they got out of it. They kicked everything off it that they could: the mirrors, the lights, the windshield, the windows, the dials and the dash. They ripped everything off it that they could. Then they found a knife and slashed the seats and tried to set the truck on fire.
It was just a couple of kids out having some fund, I guess, before they went to choir practice, scouts or whatever. They were nice young guys but they were known to the police. They did have records, but we cannot mention that because they were under 18 and therefore not accountable, I guess, for the things they do.
Mrs. Rowe was devastated. She felt violated. She felt as though her security had been breached. She felt terribly inconvenienced, but she said “Thank heaven we have insurance”. She went to the insurance agent who said the truck was unfixable. It was an absolute total wreck and a write-off. The agent then asked how much she would take as a payout and offered to pay her out on it.
She knew she had to do something, that she had to replace it because she needed a vehicle. She received a payout from the insurance. What do we suppose happened to her insurance premiums? Did they go down because she had tough luck and had fallen on hard times? Hardly. They went through the roof because she made a claim.
She told the insurance company that she did not cause the claim. Her vehicle was stolen. They said “We don't give a rat's patootie”. It considered it a claim. A claim is a claim is a claim. She was treated the same way as if she were drunk and wrapped her truck around a telephone pole. Her rates would go up. She said she had no control over the situation. They broke into her vehicle, stole her vehicle and drove off.
What did Donna Rowe want from this situation? Did she want to have these guys flogged in front of the post office on payday? No. She wanted some justice and accountability. Were either of those young people asked to pay restitution to her so she could replace her vehicle? No. As a matter of fact her lawyer said that he did not even feel they owed her an apology.
No apology was needed, I guess because they were young people. The judge gave each of them one year of open custody and one year of probation. What is the difference? What is open custody? Does that mean that they cannot steal cars on Tuesdays and Thursdays? What does it mean? Neither one of them got any time. They made no restitution. They made no apology. They were not penalized in any way. They had open custody: “Away you go, see you next week” or whatever.
All Mrs. Rowe wanted was some justice and accountability. She felt that the justice system completely let her down, and she will forever and ever.
What is there in the bill to allay the fears of Mrs. Rowe and people like her? I know of a lot of other instances. It is a shame that I have such a short time to talk about them because a lot of other people have come to me with very similar stories. It is not about punitive action taken against people. It is about their doing something for the victims.
Is this a victimless crime? Absolutely not. Mrs. Rowe was a victim and she did not get any justice.