moved:
That this House do now adjourn.
—Mr. Speaker, this is clearly a very important issue.
As you have outlined, Mr. Speaker, this emergency debate is as a result of a situation that has evolved in recent months and years but which is escalating. It is a situation that has become very critical in the country. Organized crime is becoming more rooted daily in various communities across the country.
It is certainly something that is not limited to any province. It may be argued that in the province of Quebec there is an acute presence of organized crime activity and established gangs which could be due in part to the headquarters located there and the length of time they have been involved in their various heinous activities in that province. However, they are branching out. They are spreading out like a plague across the country.
Organized crime is something that is not new to Canada, but it is becoming increasingly sophisticated in its nature. It is becoming increasingly diverse, like an industry that has diversified. Organized crime is a problem in rural Canada as much as it is in the cities.
I begin my remarks by indicating that this is truly a non-partisan issue. This is not an issue with which anyone wants to play politics. This is an issue on which we should be united. Of all things in this place, it is an issue on which we should be working together to try to eradicate and address and at least discuss matters in which we can do so in a civil fashion.
Like the old Neil Young song Rust Never Sleeps , crime never sleeps. This is something which is taking place day and night across the country. It is happening at all times. It is not prejudicial. It takes place in communities where there is perhaps less money and wealth. It preys on the weak. It uses intimidation. It is insidious in its approach.
Representing the district of Kingston, I know this will be of interest to you, Mr. Speaker. Being an area where there have been reports of increasing biker turf wars taking place and where there is a concentration of Canada's federal penal institutions, it is a prime area for organized crime. Individuals are often released from prisons right into the waiting arms of organized crime.
Last Saturday more than 70 motorcycle gangs, including dozens from the Rock Machine, were in the city of London, Ontario for an annual social event with outlaw biker gangs. They were trying to forge relationships. Just like corporations, they are forming mergers and working together to gain allies in their continuing war with the Hell's Angels in this instance, for strength and a lion's share of the organized crime activity which is going on. As part of that continuing war, the Hell's Angels, in this escalating war between them and the Rock Machine, are talking about control of the illegal drug trade, adult entertainment, extortion and racketeering.
The problem is apparent. People no longer feel safe in their communities. They feel that much of what the police do now is simply monitoring instead of having the ability to intervene and strike at the heart of the issue. Much of that I suggest is due to the lack of resources. Where the police fall down in this regard is that they do not have the ability, the financial resources, to compete with organized crime in the fashion in which they should. Nor do they have the legislative teeth, which is what they have been calling for. They want the ability to gain access to warrants so they can move quickly. In most instances, the police are facing a critical situation where they have to quickly act with great force in a very prudent fashion. They are dealing with limited resources.
Similarly, organized crime does not have to stay within the bounds of the law. Those people do not have to follow certain established procedures. They do not have to wait for a warrant to arrive or ensure that certain legal remedies are adhered to. That is fine. We all accept the fact that the police have to adhere to the rule of law but they are being curtailed. They have one hand behind their backs when compared with the organized crime they are seeking to eradicate.
In the province of Quebec there have been a number of instances in recent days and months. Journalists who have exposed and written about this problem have become the direct targets and have been attacked. There have been attempted assassinations. This is escalating and reaching new and dangerous levels. We in this place certainly should be discussing ways to address and remedy the situation, if at all possible.
Two weeks ago the minister from the province of Quebec, Serge Ménard, urged the federal government to consider the use of the notwithstanding clause when dealing with membership in gangs like the Hell's Angels and the Rock Machine. During the same period when the issue was being discussed, Michel Auger was shot five times in the back for writing about this exact scenario. We do not know the perpetrators of that offence but the timing certainly leads one to believe that it was related to those articles and that subject matter which he had chosen to write about in the public forum.
Criminal gangs are present in virtually every province. Organized crime has infiltrated almost every element of society. Most recently, smuggling rings have been appearing with alarming frequency on the west coast. The Chinese snake head gangs or triads are becoming increasingly present. They are becoming most blatant and almost unrepentant in trying to bring people into this country illegally, the human trade, as it has been called.
It is dehumanizing and a threat to the very underpinnings of democracy that this is taking place. Yet the police, our internal security service, feel curtailed in their efforts to deal with this threat. Obviously it is not limited to any one element of organized crime. There are the traditional mafia type syndicates in place. There are increasing reports that eastern bloc countries, in particular the Soviet Union, have staked out a market here in North America. They are perceived by the police as being a real threat because of their ruthless nature. There are the Chinese triads which I have referred to. Right across the board in every corner of the country we are seeing elements of organized crime.
In my own constituency, in Antigonish, we have seen a biker gang crop up. They are becoming blatantly apparent to all in the community of Antigonish. In Saskatchewan there have been new openings of chapters of the Hell's Angels. It is right across the board. We are seeing it in Manitoba and Ontario.
The drug war often plays itself out on the streets and roads of every community. Innocent bystanders are very often caught in the crossfire of these exchanges. The bombs that are planted by criminals are intended to intimidate, shut down or infiltrate one another but very often innocent people become the victims.
Even when organized criminals and those who engage in this activity are caught and arrested and due process takes place, they wind up in jail but they continue to recruit. They continue to actively organize and to communicate with one another. As an example, last Wednesday, September 13, a Millhaven penitentiary inmate serving a 17 year sentence was charged again with drug related and weapons offences and conspiracy to commit escape after using a cellphone to import Colombian drugs into Canada.
It is appalling to think of the blatant and outright flaunting of the law that takes place when criminal gangs are involved. The recruiting that is going on has to be addressed as well. There is a great deal of outsourcing of criminal activity. Want to be criminals are brought into the fold and told they will be rewarded if they will do this bidding, if they will involve themselves in drug trafficking, prostitution and violence, to ingratiate themselves to their organized crime masters. This is happening with increasing frequency.
Criminals are recruiting young people to do their crimes. This is happening. It is something we cannot ignore and is something the government itself has to address in a more active way.
I know we will hear from both the solicitor general and the Minister of Justice about this issue. The Minister of Justice will rightly point out that the government has brought forward legislative initiatives. That is welcome. It is welcome in the community. However in most cases the government refers repeatedly to the money that has been put into the CPIC system and the recent cheques that have been sent to the RCMP, but they are postdated. The money will not be there for years to come.
The money has to come now. The legislative initiatives have to occur immediately because it is creeping into society at every element. Making announcements, either in the House or in the press gallery, as the government is prone to do, does not do anything but encourage organized crime when they find out that the money is not actually there. The resources are shadow resources.
We hear time and time again about the priorities of the government. Its number one priority was health care. Then the defence minister said the number one priority was dealing with the lack of helicopters. We heard today the number one priority is organized crime. These priorities are shifting like the sands of the Sahara. They are shifting perhaps like the sands in the sand traps where the Prime Minister plays golf.
This is not going to help the problem. It is not going to address the lack of resources the police have and the lack of legislative initiatives that are needed to allow the police to attack the problem, to engage in the warfare against criminal activity and gangs in Canada.
We presently have a committee in place of which I am proud to say I am a member. The justice committee has been tasked, at the initiative of the Bloc and with the endorsement of the entire House, to look at this issue in detail, and we will. There is a great deal to examine. This is a very complex and involved matter. There is no way to dumb down this issue as some in this place would like to do.
We have to attack organized crime at its root. We have to cut off the flow of resources that they are using. That may involve bringing in tougher legislation with respect to the proceeds of crime. I know there are initiatives currently in place. We can do more. We can always do more when the problem is as acute and apparent as it is today. Part of that certainly involves discussion here, but hopefully we will see concrete examples of the government reacting and acting in a responsible way, bringing forward concrete legislation, not talking about it here and in the press.
Let us actually do something. Let us show Canadians that this place can work forcefully and in a timely fashion. Let us bring it about for all Canadians to see that the government is behind our policing agents and is behind the courts in their efforts to address and eradicate organized crime.
The commissioner of the RCMP is an individual with a long history of dealing with organized crime in a very practical way, on the front lines. Perhaps the commissioner will, more than anyone else in the organization, have firsthand knowledge and an understanding of just how bad it is. To demonstrate that, we heard a warning from the commissioner in his very first week in office. He addressed this issue and specifically pointed out how bad it had become. He talked about this in a serious fashion. A warning was issued that should give us pause for reflection. He is telling us that organized crime is ready to purchase parliamentarians.
I was listening with interest to the discussion about fundraising and how political parties are often trying to raise money. That is accepted; that practice has always been there. But when parties put themselves on the auction block and they have high priced fundraising efforts, dinners set up for $25,000 a table, they are naively putting themselves forward and are vulnerable to exactly the type of purchase that Commissioner Zaccardelli has referred to and which he has warned us about.
A lot of potential influence can be bought with $25,000. Why would the players in organized crime not want to get in line? They certainly have the money. They certainly have the resources and they are prepared to do it. They have tried to do it in other fashions.
Organized crime is out there. It is actively undermining the moral fabric of communities. It is out there every day working to do so. It is coming out of the shadows. It is not in the alleys. It is not in the old flophouses the way it used to be. It is out there. It is on the Internet. It is in the homes of people we may know.
Heaven forbid that it ever makes it into the very home of democracy, but this is what the commissioner is talking about. He is indicating that parliamentarians, like other Canadians, are just as vulnerable. It is sometimes that intangible element of intimidation that the organized crime players like to trade in. This is very much on their agenda.
We have to act swiftly. Most important, we cannot back away from this issue, try to bury it, try to ignore it or to pretend that it is not as acute as it is. Organized crime is beginning to run rampant.
I have indicated that all sorts of different elements are competing for their market share. We do not need to torque up the rhetoric. We have to torque up solutions. We have to torque up tangible and very real ways to address what is going on. Jumped up promises or post-dated cheques for any element of this just will not do it. We do not need to talk about the priorities. We have to realize that it is a priority.
I do not mean to diminish or make this a joking matter, but the time is certainly here. I hope this debate will be the beginning of a real focus, not only by members of the opposition but more important by the government. The RCMP recognizes it. Municipal police forces, which are certainly doing the lion's share of policing in rural Canada, realize it. They continually make this an issue.
The minister herself will know, having attended a recent conference, that provincial ministers are looking to the government for co-operative efforts. They are looking to the government for leadership and initiatives that would help them.
The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the criminal code, and that is part of the solution. That is part of where the change has to begin, whether it is through changes to organized crime elements of proceeds of crime or whether it involves giving the police greater latitude to seek warrants, to enter premises and to work in some effective way that they can move toward attacking crime where it begins.
Recruiting is becoming a bigger problem. We may have to draft entirely new legislation that will deal specifically with the element of recruitment. The suggestion that has been put forward and discussed already to some degree is the element of outlawing membership in these criminal organizations. I know that those with tendencies toward protection of civil liberties are correct to have legitimate trepidation about how we do this in an effective way. Part of it comes from a very specific definition of what encompasses organized crime. What will that definition be?
The wearing of colours that signify membership in a criminal organization is simply wrong. It is flaunting it in the faces of the authorities to go around flying the colours of an organized crime band. We have to take decisive action here that demonstrates we are not only not intimidated but will push back and act in a more proactive rather than reactive way.
We have seen it in the United States. I do not always want to hold up the United States as a shining example, but it has given sufficient resources to help deal with the problem at its root. The disbanding of the coast guard and the ports police by the government has opened the ports for business. It has signalled to organized crime that we can no longer control entry into the country of contraband materials. That has led to all sorts of problems for local police and RCMP because they simply do not have the capacity to police those ports.
There are other glaring examples where the resources have been cut and the police have been left feeling like they are spinning their wheels.
The government has an opportunity to step forward, to step up and show some leadership, to show some initiative and to give the police the help and the support through resources and legislative initiatives for which they are crying out.
Today can be evidence of that. I am hoping that we will hear from the minister more than just the usual rhetoric and more than just the talk about what has been done already. Let us talk about it in a proactive way in terms of what we can do to help our law enforcement community and what we can do to help shore up the doubt out there that we are losing ground, that we are falling behind and that organized crime is becoming an increasing threat.
We need to do that in a non-partisan way. I think we will find that all members of the Chamber are looking to the government to agree to making that a commitment, to making that a priority. If the Liberals are headed for an election, perhaps this will be an election issue. Let us do something now while we have an opportunity.
This is a life and death scenario. I know we hear that all the time, whether it is health, whether it is environment or whether it is justice. This is something that is affecting lives in this country as we speak. We not only have a responsibility and a mandate to do something about it. We have an absolutely undeniable obligation to Canadians to do something about it now, quickly, in a timely fashion to use the minister's words, and to do so in a clear and decisive way.
