The parliamentary secretary said that it has not been killed. She should walk down to the clerk's table and find out a little about parliament because this bill is dead. That is what they did on the other side. The Liberals have killed this young offenders bill which would have benefited this country. It is a shame.
What is really a shame about it is that we have the government interfering in Private Members' Business. This was not done by a backbencher; it was done by the government with a plan to kill this private member's bill.
The public may not understand what the bill addresses. It calls for parents and guardians of young offenders to be held accountable when they fail to discharge their responsibilities. It could have been law in this country by May 26, when we return, but the government has killed the bill. It has killed this great idea, which even it admits is a great idea because it included it in its legislation.
Liberals might say that we should just wait until their legislation comes along, but we know that the government does not intend to pass Bill C-68 in this session. The House is going to prorogue before the bill ever sees the light of day because the government has taken so much heat over the fact that certain things are not in the bill that should be there. It will let the bill drag on. The government House leader has not brought the bill back into the House for debate. We have had 20 minutes here, an hour there, two hours there, but there is no government behind Bill C-68.
We do not even see it on our agenda of “must haves” before we break for the summer. That is a shame. It is an absolute shame that the government spent a couple of million bucks on PR for the bill to try to make the minister and the government look good and it is not even on the agenda as an item to be considered before we leave for summer holidays. The government could have had the bill of the member for Surrey North which would have made that part of it law before the summer, but it has not done that.
Democracy is really great on the other side. The Liberals have killed this bill. They have killed this young offenders section. They just do not want to see a member from this side getting credit for doing it. They will pay the price for that. What is even worse is that young people will pay the price. They will pay the price because this was a good bill. Even the Minister of Justice said that when she brought down her legislation. She said that this was incorporated in Bill C-68 because it was a good idea, but then they killed this bill today. They are going to kill Bill C-68.