Mr. Speaker, I know the member for Langley—Abbotsford has been an outspoken critic of the judiciary when it seems to take leave of its senses and bypasses what the expressed intent of parliament has been all along, which was to pass a judgment on the rightness or wrongness of the possession of child pornography. In other words, parliament has stepped up to the batter's box and said that it is wrong to possess child pornography. It is not just the fact that a filthy magazine is in their hands, it is the fact that children's lives have been ruined. People have been devastated to the extreme in order to create the trash that the pedophile is using. It is not just a matter of the magazine in their hands, it is the people who have been abused in order to get those sick photographs and information into those people's hands.
Parliament has wisely said that that will not be tolerated in this country. Somebody has to step up to protect the kids. The law of the land has to do it. That gives parents the backing they need to say they are not going to take it and they are not going to accept it because it is not in their frame of reference.
The member for Langley—Abbotsford has been critical in times past about the judiciary. In a sense the judiciary uses its own notwithstanding clause. It says that notwithstanding what parliament has done it will interpret this as just an expression of thought and will permit this stuff to be distributed. Once it is distributed, once there is a market for it, and once it can be disseminated to those sick people, then there is a market to abuse children. It is an absolute licence to say “You get the photos. I have the magazine to print them in and I can find sickos, not just in Canada but around the world, who are eager to snap this stuff up”.
I would like the member for Langley—Abbotsford to expand on the role of the judiciary and, in a sense, the abuse that some of the judiciary, not all, have taken up with this activist role.
This does not only apply to the judiciary, it also applies to human rights commissioners, people who are unelected, unaccountable, who are on a salary and who take a position brought forward by an advocacy group and say “I will champion this cause on your behalf”. It is not just the judges. The commissioners and the tribunals in this country have said “Parliament be damned. We will set the laws around here”.
I would like the member for Langley—Abbotsford to comment on his experience in dealing with tribunals, commissions, judges and other rulings that I think have mocked parliament and have lowered the esteem of parliament. Increasingly Canadians are asking “What is the point? That place is irrelevant because the judges will do as they darn well please”. I would like the hon. member to comment on his experience because I know he has done a lot of work in that area.