Mr. Speaker, in 1994 two high school girls attending Mount Boucherie Secondary School were so concerned about the inadequacies of the Young Offenders Act that they launched a petition asking the government to strengthen it. They will be disappointed.
The proposed legislation takes only minimal steps toward recognizing their concerns and ignores the recommendations of the minister's own justice committee.
British Columbians have additional concerns. The recent non-action by both the Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister regarding the recent Shaw decision about child pornography has incensed Canadians.
I appeal to both the Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister to change their attitudes toward justice in deference to law-abiding Canadians by making sure Canada has a justice system that protects us and our children, not a system of legal technicalities that allows judges to refuse pleas of guilty by perpetrators of crime.