Mr. Speaker, the member can comment on this statement if he cares to. While the Liberals point out that the Alliance is looking for more policing, the Liberals are looking at spending millions and millions and perhaps even billions of dollars going after duck hunters, deer hunters and gopher shooters. They are spending money like crazy. That is what they have been spending. That is their answer to fighting crime.
Having travelled around with the police and seeing the difficulties they face throughout many of our cities, I agree with the hon. member when I saw so many young people wearing identifiable jackets indicating that they belonged to an organization. I see this as being a problem that is affecting the most vulnerable of our society, and that is the children of this nation.
I see legislation coming out of some provinces that want to do something about it. For example, in Alberta the police were authorized by legislation to take young teenage prostitutes off the streets, not arrest them, not charge them, but detain them to try to help them. I am talking about taking 12 and 13 year olds off the street. Some judge has declared that to be unconstitutional. Along comes other legislation that allowed the police to stop identifiable gangs at roadside checks and along comes a judge who rules it unconstitutional.
I am wondering if the member sees the picture of what is going on. What is wrong with giving our officers the authority to put a stop to a lot of the actions that are happening? Their hands are tied constantly by silly legislation and the spending of money in areas that is not addressing the problem.