Mr. Speaker, before Oral Question Period, I had th opportunity to speak to Bill C-18 and explain the Bloc Quebecois' position and its opposition to Bill C-18, and to explain why we are going to vote against the bill.
The Bloc Quebecois recognizes that impaired driving causing death is a very serious offence indeed. We are all in agreement on this because for the victim the consequences are final and it causes a lot of trouble, a lot of pain to the family. Everybody agrees on that.
However, we think that giving a life sentence to the driver who caused this person to die by operating his vehicle while impaired would be disproportionate as compared to other sentences under the criminal code, and it would not solve the problem.
The Bloc Quebecois believes there are other practical, concrete solutions that should be implemented such as an ignition interlock with a breath alcohol analyzer, a system I will be pleased to explain later on, if I have the time.
The point I want to make is that the bill before us was introduced by the government much more out of political expediency than to meet a need in the justice system. Everyone is aware of the fact that there is in Canada a very strong shift to the right spearheaded mainly by the Canadian Alliance calling for tougher, harsher laws, especially with respect to the criminal code, without necessarily any factual basis.
We saw it with young offenders. The situation is very clear, very obvious. We in Quebec have developed a preventive approach to bring young offenders back on the right track, to help them learn again how to live in society and respect the legal framework of our society, and it works.
However, the rest of Canada really let the American approach influence them. They want longer prison terms. They want young men and women to be harshly punished when they make a mistake. They often forget that by doing so, these offenders end up in prison and that prisons are often schools for crime. I think that the example of the young offenders also applies to Bill C-18 and to the issue of impaired driving causing death.
Instead of adopting this kind of punitive approach, the Bloc Quebecois would rather increase the deterrent effect through a device known as an alcohol-ignition interlock device. It is simply an ignition locking system that by including a clause to that effect in the criminal code, this type of offender could be compelled to have in his car.
All sorts of uses could be made of this device. Why not, for example—and this is my own personal opinion—install this type of device in every single car?
Seat belts have already been made compulsory. At first, a lot of people were against it, but today we all buckle up because we know that it is safer and that, should we be involved in an accident, our injuries would be less serious. Such measures could therefore be considered. However, if the government is not prepared to go that far, it could at least apply such measures to impaired drivers who are repeat offenders, so as to prevent them from taking the wheel and causing death, an offence for which, if the government had its way, they would receive a life sentence.
We can see the difference. The bill seeks to punish after the fact without doing anything to remedy the situation, by preventing further deaths, whereas the Bloc Quebecois wants to deal with the root of the problem to ensure there are as few of these types of situations as possible.
I think the Bloc Quebecois has a very responsible attitude on this issue. It is a well thought out attitude that is advocated by many stakeholders. The prevention system I am talking about was used in the past in Alberta and Quebec. Current programs are satisfactory, produce significant results and help prevent these types of situations.
In conclusion, I will simply say that, as far as the Bloc Quebecois is concerned, Bill C-18 is a bad piece of legislation. It does not get to the root of the problem, and it will create more problems than it solves. It also introduces a double standard in our criminal code, which we find unacceptable.