Mr. Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise and speak to this bill, particularly because of the person who has proposed it.
The member for Wild Rose has been absolutely tireless in his efforts on behalf of not only the people in his constituency but indeed all Canadians in bringing more common sense to the whole area of justice in Canada. He has a tireless history in our party of continuously working on behalf of the justice issue, and I commend him for that.
Bill C-219 is an act to amend the Criminal Code by adding the following after section 334:
Every one who, while committing an offence or while attempting to commit an offence or during flight after committing or attempting to commit an offence, operates or uses a motor vehicle that he has stolen or knows to have been stolen is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of one year.
If I could refer to the October 20 edition of Hansard , in presenting the bill my colleague from Wild Rose said:
My private member's bill amends the Criminal Code so that a person guilty of an indictable offence must be sentenced to one year imprisonment if the person operates or uses a motor vehicle that the person has stolen or knows has been stolen while committing or attempting to commit an offence.
He made the point that the bill put the police chiefs' resolution into practice. As I mentioned, my colleague is tireless in making sure he is in tune not only with the Canadian public but indeed with the Canadian Police Association and the Chiefs of Police. He said:
This bill puts the police chiefs' resolution into practice. It will clearly serve as a deterrent to those considering these types of criminal acts.
He also noted:
There are three primary motivations for auto theft: one, joyriding; two, transportation for criminal purposes such as breaking and entering, robbery, and drive-by shootings; and three, when a car is stripped for parts or exported to other provinces or countries for sale.
I was particularly interested to note that the parliamentary secretary to the justice minister then followed my colleague and said:
A person found guilty of this indictable offence must be sentenced to one year's imprisonment.
I put emphasis on the word must because there is nowhere in Bill C-219 or in the comments of my colleague that says this is a mandatory sentence. She was wrong. It must not be a sentence to one year's imprisonment. She went on further to state:
This offence must be served consecutively to any other punishment imposed on the person for an offence arising out of the same event or series of events.
This is again wrong. There is nothing in Bill C-219 that prescribes whether it be consecutive or concurrent.
In the short time that I have had the privilege of being the solicitor general critic for the Reform Party I have been on a very rapid up-ramp of learning. What I have learned is the difference between consecutive and concurrent.
The parliamentary secretary is suggesting that even if a person was found guilty of this offence, should the bill indeed pass through the House and become law, he or she would be liable for one year's imprisonment. That would simply be served at the same time as the penalty for whatever other criminal offence was being served.
In effect the minister is prejudging that the court system would say it is one extra charge and it will be served concurrently. It would be served at exactly the same time so it would not make any difference. What a waste of time if that were the case, and indeed it is not.
If that were the case it would be a pattern much like the government has chosen for very violent offences, very violent rapes and sexual offences, very violent multiple murders and all the events surrounding multiple murders. Basically the government has gone into the business of volume discount. In other words, although it is true that one cannot serve more than one life sentence, one can be incarcerated for an extended period of time if life sentences are served consecutively, that is one after the other.
If a person were able to apply for parole after the end of 15 or 25 years, depending on the precise circumstance, and there were more than one murder or more violence surrounding the event, the penalty for all the other surrounding events would have been paid at the same time as that for the longest event because the longest sentence before one can get parole in Canada is 25 years.
The government is out of touch with the Canadians with whom I speak in coffee shops in my constituency and with whom my colleagues speak on the streets of Calgary. Most members in the House, and I dare say even a few Liberals when they talk to their constituents, must know that the constituents are after some feeling of public safety. The government is not giving any sense of public safety.
I get back to the bill at hand. Bill C-219 takes a look at the issue of someone, during the course of committing an indictable offence, stealing and making use of a vehicle. It basically says this must be put in place as a deterrent. The fact is that it is only for one year. Because of the parole system, if a person has a one year sentence it is quite possible to be out on day parole within one-sixth of a year, in other words within two months.
The government is not even involved in truth in sentencing. It says they will get one year if they use a car for a joy ride. Such is being used, for example, in Cornwall as we speak where people involved in smuggling weapons, guns, liquor, drugs and tobacco were using vehicles for high speed chases. All sorts of things are going on. As a result of the sentencing regime under this government, even for a one year sentence the offender upon conviction would not get one year because that is the maximum. Even if he or she got the maximum, the offender would potentially be out on day parole within two months.
This is why my colleague brought the bill before the House. In his usual thoughtful manner he will have worked through the process and will have taken direction from the people responsible for public safety, safety on our streets.
Also as solicitor general critic I must say that I have a deep concern about the entire issue of tracking vehicles. We know that stolen vehicles end up at the Canadian police information centre on CPIC. If a police officer sees a vehicle he or she can access CPIC to find out the status of the vehicle. If the vehicle is stolen or there is something irregular about it, it will show up on CPIC.
It is my position on behalf of our party that there be an upgrading of the CPIC system so that vehicle identification numbers, not just for stolen vehicles but indeed for all vehicles in Canada, would be available to police officers. If Bill C-219 is enacted, CPIC and the vehicle registration system would become part of bringing Bill C-219 into full force and effect.