Madam Speaker, Canadians watching the debate must be going crazy. To hear the nonsense being spouted from government benches is beyond belief.
The member is just the latest example of it. He says the law is in effect in Canada. Guess what? Letters have been read in the House including one from the Canadian Police Association which say that in the province of British Columbia possession of child pornography cases are being thrown out of court. The law is not in effect in the country. It is not in effect in the province of B.C. People with children and grandchildren and relatives and friends, people they care about in British Columbia, are going to hold this member to account when he dares to stand in his place and says what is to worry about, the law is in effect, when he knows very well that it is not in effect in the province of British Columbia. But of course that does not matter to this member. Then he said and gasped “We are being asked to invoke section 33 to override the charter. How can we possibly do that? This would be terrible for parliament to say it is supreme. How can we do such a nonsensical thing?”
I would like to read from a letter dated January 20 signed by Liberal members: “We ask that the government not wait for the appeal of the B.C. decision to be heard. We ask also that you consider”, this is to the Prime Minister “the use of the notwithstanding clause”. Guess who signed this letter on January 20? The member who just spoke.
I would like to ask the member who got to him between January 20, 1999 and February 2, 1999, or perhaps he just wanted to be able to tell his supporters that he really fought this thing but when it came time for him to put his money where his mouth was, he was not willing to do it.