Mr. Speaker, I want to address the issue the hon. member has raised. He asked where I was. I want to ask him where he was when organized crime was taking place in the streets. Where was he when the moral of police and law enforcement agencies went down? Where was he when a major drug dealer was deported from the country in 1995? He changed his name, came back to Canada in 1997 and is still dealing drugs in the country.
Where was he when he saw the revolving door and that people were selling drugs on east Vancouver streets? I went for a ride along with the RCMP one evening. They showed me all around the back alleys where the drugs were sold and the druggies were using them. The system is a revolving door. The officers told me that as soon as Honduran refugees on the streets see the police car stop they raise their arms because they know the process. They will stick their tongues out because they know they have to be checked. No one is talking but the action is still taking place because the people are used to it.
I invite the member to come to the streets of east Vancouver where people have been dying from drug overdoses. The dealers are entrenched into the system and are not legitimate refugees in Canada. The officers said that when they search the people who are selling drugs every one of them would have a certain amount of money of all denominations in their pockets. They searched them and it was true.
The officers said that if they were to search them they will have a business card of only one lawyer. We saw probably 16 of them. At every corner of the street they had the business card of the same lawyer.
I invite the hon. member to visit east Vancouver to see it and not to sit here and simply make a political attack in the House. I invite him to look through the lens of issues, not through the lens of politics.
It has been the mentality of government members that when opposition parties raise some issue they first ignore it. Then we increase the volume and they reject the premise like the member is doing. When we increase the volume even more they steal the ideas. They should have vision. They should have taken action on organized crime many years ago. The Liberal and Tory governments time and again denied that there was any organized criminal activity taking place anywhere in Canada.
If they had taken action then and had vision we would not be facing this problem today. Government action is many years behind. It should have taken action probably 10, 15 or 20 years ago.
It is never too late but it first has to acknowledge that there is a problem. The Liberals time and again throughout this debate have rejected and failed to acknowledge that there is any problem with organized crime at this moment in Canada.
There is a proverb in English which explains the learning philosophy. I said it in the House some time ago but I will repeat it: He who knows not and knows not that he knows not can never learn. The person will never learn until he recognizes that he does not know.
That is the Liberal mentality. Hon. members of the House have time and again given many analogies and examples and quoted many experts about organized crime. Even I can quote one. Recently the new head of the RCMP, Commissioner Zaccardelli, said members of organized crime were trying to corrupt and threaten parliament and other Canadian institutions.
Crime is everywhere. As I said at the beginning of my speech, I am a member of the subcommittee. I heard what other members did not hear. The member probably is a member of that committee and he was not there. I want to ask him where he was when the committee was having hearings.