Mr. Speaker, it does not give me great pleasure to come to the House to debate this as I believe that the courts have made a mistake.
I believe that the justice minister should have acted on this issue in a far more decisive way. It does not give me pleasure to be debating this because there should be no debate. The children of Canada must be protected. Under this justice minister, under this government, that is not happening.
The definition of civilization is that we protect those who cannot protect themselves. We must look after the children of Canada. The people of Canada are saying to us in the House protect our children.
The justice in his ruling wrote: “There is no evidence that the production of child pornography will be significantly reduced if simple possession is made a crime”. The word significantly blows this thing completely out of proportion. What does he mean by significantly reduced?. It is the responsibility of the House to protect the children of Canada. For this justice to say that he is making this ruling because there is no evidence that they will be more significantly protected, even if they are protected one small amount, that is better than this judgment.
We are faced in Canada today with judicial activism that in no way reflects the values of Canadian citizens and Canadian society. The values that Canadians are concerned with is protecting their children. They demand few things. They expect safe streets. They are not getting safe streets. They expect to be free from terrorism and unfortunately in some cases they are not getting this. They expect to be free and to avoid the issue of drugs for teens. They want the protection of their teens from a drug culture. They expect protection from being ripped off. Sadly this government is going very slow. They expect those things but what do they demand? They demand the protection of children.
The justice minister has said to the police to go ahead and do your thing. As a solicitor general critic, as I go in and out of RCMP detachments I run into file after file that is full to overflowing, brimming with paper and documents just to protect the police because of the charter action that has been taken in so many instances. The judicial activism that is presently underway not in any way reflecting the values of Canadians is hampering the police in their ability to do their job.
There has been mischief by the charter of rights and it has been mischief that has been brought forward by the law society in Canada. We even have first degree murderers who walk away when the courts decide they should have had a search warrant under certain conditions. So all of a sudden things are overturned, murderers are permitted to go free and in retrials there are situations where there cannot even be proper evidence brought forward.
There is just one thing that I can say about murderers versus this issue. At least the people who are murdered are dead. The difference in this issue is that the children of Canada who are subjected to this become the walking dead. We must protect children and we must protect our children now.
The justice went on to say a few more things:
A person's belongings are an expression of that person's essential self.
Another quote:
It is the means of ensuring individual self-fulfilment by developing and articulating thoughts and ideas as they see fit.
Mr. Sharpe was quoted as saying:
—that pornography is probably good for children, that children are able to consent to have sex with adults and that child pornography laws interfere with the rights of those who are interested in adult-child sex.
How can a four year old make any kind of an informed judgment on that? How can an eight year old make any kind of an informed judgment? That is what Canadians are faced with today. How absolutely pathetically stupid, ridiculous and reprehensible that statement is.
If the people on that side of the House do not understand that we are sitting with a hand grenade, with the pin pulled, let me quote Eugene Meehan of Lang Mitchener on CFRA this morning. He equated the situation to “a grenade with the pin pulled”. This situation is urgent. The opportunity to expose child pornography will increase rapidly as a result. It will happen. It is happening.
A police officer testified that as a result of the possession count against Sharpe, the police had been able to obtain warrants and carry out searches that have assisted them in finding child molesters. In British Columbia that is all set aside at this point. The justice minister can say to the police go ahead but the law has been struck down and needs to resurrected. We need to have action and we need it now.
Let me address the issue of who we are in the Chamber. There are 301 people in the Chamber elected by the people of Canada. The people of Canada assume that the House of Commons is the supreme power in the country. Under this justice minister and her predecessor, under this solicitor general and his predecessor, the government has allowed the courts to become the lawmakers and the law restricters in Canada.
We must stand up. We must be counted. It is up to members of parliament to reflect the values of the people of Canada. The people of Canada are saying “Protect our children, protect our children now”.