Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be speaking today on the Reform motion.
The debate has been somewhat diminished by some insulting remarks made by government members. They have characterized Reform as fearmongers. They have said we have wrong motives, that we are acting precipitously and we are silly.
I indict them with the charge that if the members over there sat on this side of the House and that motion had come from this side of the House there is probably not one of them who would not support the motion. That is an indictment I do not think many of them could escape, particularly those 69 who signed the petition to their own leadership asking for a move on this issue.
There are those tonight when the vote comes up who will wish they were on this side of the House. They will wish that they were not whipped into shape so that they could express not only their own hearts' desire in this matter but the desire of their constituents, as well. When the vote comes this side of the House is on the side of the children. It is on the side of the parents of the children. It is on the side of what is right and we will vote as a block on this side to support the motion.
On that side we will be interested to see what the result is and to see if members there will stand up for what they know is right. On the other hand there have been some members who have made good and legal points but I do not believe that it was as quoted by the judge, that the possession of child pornography is an important expression of a person's essential self. That self needs to be reigned in. The law that was struck down needs to be reinstated as soon as possible.
It is not good enough to say that from now until whenever the government stands aside and watches while Canadian children are put at risk, to watch the process take a step by step management rather than leadership approach to dealing with the problem. It will just not accomplish what needs to be done.
Judge Shaw invoked a provision of the charter to strike down the law that protects children from child pornography. It is within parliament's purview to strike down his decision through use of the notwithstanding provisions of the charter of rights and freedoms. We do not think that a careless interpretation by one judge should bring the entire protection of children into danger.
The role of parliament in the debate and in acting has been trivialized by those members who have said let the system work and we will bring in the law in a timely fashion. The Minister of Justice has said for all the time I have been in the House of Commons, approaching two years, to wait and that something on the Young Offenders Act will be brought forward in a timely fashion.
The official opposition is still waiting. We have quit looking at our watches. We have almost quit looking at the calendar. We are beginning to look at some millennium clock to find out if anything will happen when the government says it will act in a timely fashion.
We have a responsibility in the House of not merely to be regulators of society enforcing contracts between different groups within our society and setting up those kinds of guidelines. We are to provide some leadership and governing.
We want to consult with our people but we will not find in this situation any public approval for consultation, waiting or anything else. Canadians expect us to act. They do not want to see protection for pornographers, perverts and pedophiles. They do not want to see children left at risk. They want protection.
We have heard time and again that there are people who are planning court challenges to take away parents' rights to discipline and raise their children in the best way they see fit.
We understand there is a lot of support for that from the Liberal side. For goodness sake, why would we even consider stripping away the rights of parents to raise their children when we would not even consider stripping away the rights of a pedophile to look at the waterworks of children for his own perverted purposes?
We need to act but there are two ways to act. One is to cut off the supply which is what we are doing. There are laws so that it cannot be produced. What we want to see is something to choke off the demand. There are millions upon millions of dollars spent on educating the public on the dangers of alcohol, smoking and other related social problems but education has not stopped it. Education has only made them aware of the dangers of what it is they are doing. We do not want to see this go down that same road.
We want a law in place that is upheld by parliament that will cut off the demand. We do not treat drunks with alcohol. We do not let it trickle through. If we want to get away from alcoholism we cut it off.
A new generation is coming and it will judge the previous generation on both its actions and its inactions. It will judge this House on whether it acted or whether it just let so-called justice take its course and possibly end up as being an injustice because of our lack of action.
Our vote tonight is action. It can be an action for what is going on or it can be an action against what is going on. I am calling on government members to act. I have three daughters and I will be voting on their behalf and on behalf of my constituency and I will be voting for this amendment.
Parliament has the final responsibility in this country. We have appeal courts and the supreme court to review previous decisions but parliament has the final responsibility. With responsibility should come authority and parliament must not be afraid to act on that authority. It must not fail to use the authority.
President Harry Truman, one of the most respected presidents of the United States, had a sign on his desk which read “The buck stops here”. Are we saying that in our country the buck stops down the road on Wellington where the supreme court justices have final say over the laws and intentions of this House which were produced in accordance with what our constituents asked of us when they said they want just laws, laws that provide equality, democracy, righteousness, freedom? Or are we to say down the road is where you will find those things and you will have to fight your way through every court, right through the provincial courts to the Supreme Court of Canada at great expense? Or can we be expected to act here for the people who we purport to represent?
I say we act here. The buck stops here. When I accepted this job I said I would do all I could to ensure that righteousness prevailed. I said I would not necessarily succeed in everything but that I would do my best to be faithful to what I promised in the election campaign. Part of that will be voting for this legislation tonight. Each MP's responsibility is to ensure the country they leave is in better shape than they found it in. If they fail to do that they fail their people and their promise to them in the election.