Mr. Speaker, I noticed that the member focused all his attention on the 10% plus of violent offenders and that aspect of the new legislation. We know that at the moment, sadly, we incarcerate 25,000 young people a year. Some of those of course are not in for the entire year, but putting a young person in some sort of confinement certainly is going to mark them for life. That is four or five times the rate at which we incarcerate adults in this country.
The member talked about British Columbia and we have heard some discussion about Manitoba. One of the lowest rates of incarceration I understand is in the province of New Brunswick. It has very successfully involved the community in sentencing, with pre-court handling of young offenders and more family involvement in dealing with young offenders.
I understand that the province of New Brunswick has actually closed five or six prisons recently. Imagine the financial saving on the one hand, but also imagine the improvement in the people who are going through the justice system as a result of not spending unnecessary time in prison.
Will the member give some time now to discussing the 85% or 90% non-violent offenders who are the main people we are dealing with, who are the majority of these 25,000 young people we are putting into some sort of confinement every year? Would he comment on the New Brunswick example as a model for the rest of the country?