Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the rest of the day and this very scintillating debate. I am pleased to be participating in this debate.
I appreciate the fact that my colleagues have brought forward this motion to deal with the criminal justice system, to deal with the way laws are interpreted by the judiciary and to look into issues like child pornography, young offenders, home invasions, impaired driving, conditional sentencing, consecutive sentencing, correctional facilities, illegal immigration and a number of others.
I do not think we, and particularly members on the government side, should feel defensive. We will not suggest they are responsible for every aspect of our criminal justice system and its interpretation. We also will not suggest any party has the corner on truth when it comes to dealing with these issues.
However, it is important to share our points of view in hopes that some changes will occur. I do not expect a single member of parliament, if they were honest in terms of representing the views of their constituents, would say there not improvements to be made to the system.
The government has recently introduced changes to the Young Offenders Act which, on a personal basis, I believe is a step in the right direction as changes are obviously required. I think there are improvements that can be made to the bill. My friend from Quebec who just spoke pointed out some of his concerns. The Liberal member reflected the fact that we are being flexible so that communities in different parts of the country can be reflected in the way the Young Offenders Act is interpreted and used.
Perhaps it is a strength to acknowledge that parts of the country such as the province of Quebec have had incredible successes dealing with the young offender issue provincial jurisdictions much more than some other jurisdictions. We can therefore learn from them.
On the other hand, we have to be concerned that we will have a number of systems dealing with young offenders across the country that reflect these realities in parts of the country. Do we really want to have a justice system that is different in one part of Canada for some Canadians than in another part? There is a national standard when it comes to interpreting the Criminal Code. These are issues we have to discuss and consider.
My friend spent some time talking about the Shaw decision surrounding the issue of child pornography. I think I reflect all our views when I say we share a deep concern the moment it is legal to have child pornography in one's possession for personal use. One would have to ask what other use there would be. Building material? I doubt that. It is obviously for personal use.
In British Columbia a judge has said that it is okay to have child pornography in one's possession as long as one is using it for one's personal use. That is a terrible situation. I think MPs from all parties would say that is not right and that we will take steps to ensure that is changed. Every time there is an individual with child pornography of some sort in their home it means that some young people have been abused and taken advantage of in a most degrading circumstance.
This is obviously an issue of concern because we are hearing it today. The parliamentary secretary ought not to take these criticisms personally. We are simply putting them on the table and saying these are issues that must be dealt with in whatever form it might take. If it is a change to the Constitution by using the notwithstanding clause, so be it. If it requires new legislation, so be it.
There is also the issue of impaired driving. I think we are all concerned when we listen to our local divisions of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and others and read their literature about the carnage on our highways that is attached to those people who, for whatever set of reasons, choose to drink and drive. Perhaps we need to get a little tougher on them.
I think it was the state of New York that announced a change in policy where if someone is found to be driving his or her vehicle and drinking, the vehicle is impounded and sold. The driver does not get it back under any circumstances. That will slow people down and make people think twice. It is hard to say whether that is a solution but we have to look at all aspects.
On a personal basis, there is the issue of illegal immigration. This is a huge topic and deserves a full day of debate in the House of Commons. There are a lot of people who work hard to enter Canada in legal ways by going through all the proper channels in time consuming processes and so on. We also see people who short-circuit the system and then go underground. There are thousands of people who abuse our immigration laws in that way and therefore wreck it for those who are legitimate applicants. This is something we have to take more seriously.
In the last few days I think we all had visits by police forces across the country, the RCMP and others. They visited almost every member of parliament, pointing out their incredible frustration with working hard to nail some drug dealer only to see the drug dealer getting off in court on some bloody technicality and being out there hours later selling drugs on the street to young people. There are all kinds of abuses. I do not know how police officers can stand it.