Mr. Speaker, when it comes to young offenders, the federal government is at complete odds with the supreme court.
In a recent decision, the court said that the federal government was sending far too many offenders to jail. The court pointed out that Canada had one of the highest rates of people behind bars of any country in the world and that the number of jail sentences handed down by Canadian courts had increased in recent years.
What is the federal government's response? It is scrapping the existing Young Offenders Act, which has been working just fine, and introducing a bill that will now put adolescents in the repressive environment of adult prisons. And it is doing this to keep the Reform Party happy and ape our neighbours to the south.
The Bloc Quebecois urges the Minister of Justice to listen to the supreme court and not impose its new young offenders legislation on Quebec.