Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you right away that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Ahuntsic.
I will begin my speech with something that is rather unusual in the House, but I will do it anyway. I want to congratulate the Bloc Quebecois for putting forward this motion today.
The motion reads as follows:
That this House instruct the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to conduct a study of organized crime, to analyse the options available to Parliament to combat the activities of criminal groups and to report to the House no later than October 31, 2000.
In the French version, I would have preferred the word “choix” instead of “avenues” and the word “criminels” instead of “criminalisés”, but this is just a minor detail of a linguistic nature.
I could talk about all the initiatives our government has taken. I could also talk, for example, about the proceeds of crime control units, 13 of which were established across the country, one in each large urban centre. I visited the one in Montreal. A multidisciplinary team made up of lawyers, accountants and police officers works in that unit. It is an example of co-operation to fight organized crime.
I could talk about the bill we have introduced to fight money laundering. We are the only G-7 country not to have done so, so far. I am glad we finally did it.
I could talk about Canada's leadership role in a pan-American group called MEM, chaired by the deputy minister of the solicitor general, Jean Fournier. This group's mission is to fight organized crime, particularly drug trafficking.
I could talk about Canada's participation in NORAD, the North American Air Defence, and the support of this organization for drug enforcement.
Members are no doubt aware that I am the chair of the Canada—United States Standing Committee on Defence and that NORAD issues are of great concern to that committee. In this capacity, I had the opportunity to visit the NORAD facilities at Mount Cheyenne, in Colorado Springs. This is a technological marvel, especially the drug enforcement service.
I might mention Operation Cisaille, which is so important in my region. Other members already mentioned it. In the Montérégie, this operation is highly important. The UPA, the stakeholders, the Quebec government, the Canadian government, members of this House, everybody agrees that this operation is a marvel of co-operation and efficiency.
Another example is the drug strategy developed by the Canadian government to combat drug supply, in other words the people who produce and sell drugs, and to limit the access to drugs. I am thus talking of prevention and of protection against supply.
The reason I support this motion is that I do not accept that my colleague for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot be threatened for doing his job. What threatens my colleague also threatens the 301 members of this House and the 104 senators in this parliament. This threat affects all of parliament. The life of the hon. member is torn apart. Such actions concern us all, and I reject them.
The reason I support this motion is that I do not accept that senior citizens have their savings stolen as a part of a fraudulent telemarketing operation.
I support this motion because I cannot accept that children be robbed of their future by pushers who often are themselves the victims of organized crime.
We deplore child poverty and we know that, all too often, children go to school on an empty stomach, which is not the best way to start the school day. It is not conducive to learning either. The same can be said of drugs. A child who is under the influence cannot learn.
This is why, as my colleague from Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot said just a moment ago, I believe we cannot skirt our responsibilities. Legalizing marijuana is out of the question; instead we should go after those who are responsible for that scourge that affects us all as a society.
I support this motion because I sincerely believe that we, as a government, while we are doing great things—and I do know we are doing a lot—must do even better. We must do more to fight organized crime, to deal with the globalization of organized crime.
We have heard a lot about the Canadian initiative on human security. Canada is truly a leader in this respect. These are no idle words, it is true, Canada has taken the lead internationally in terms of promoting a new concept called human security. It is in that context that we are intervening abroad, that we are changing the definition of what a border is, and that we are questioning the very principle of non interference in the affairs of a foreign state. If human security is threatened, we avail ourselves of the right to interfere.
It is in the name of this same humanism that we must intensify our fight against organized crime. It is in the name of this same humanism that every effort must be made to fight organized crime.
As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General, I consider this a very important issue and have worked a lot on it. I am delighted at the prospect of this motion, if it is adopted, giving me the opportunity to take even greater part as a member of the Standing Committee on Justice in formulating suggestions that, in my opinion, are fundamental at the dawn of the new millennium.
I invite all my colleagues on this side of the House and the House as a whole to support this motion.