Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise tonight and speak to the bill.
First, I would like to continue to extend our sympathies and best wishes to the families and friends of all victims, from wherever they may have come, as a result of September 11. It indeed was a tragic thing and our prayers continue to be with them whether they are from Canada, the U.S. or wherever. I think that would be true of each and every one of us.
I am pleased to see the foreign affairs minister here tonight. I would like to say to him, on behalf of the Wild Rose people and myself, that we commend him for the excellent job he has done as the spokesperson for our country in the event down there. He has done very well and we are very pleased with that. I believe in passing out commendations when they deserve it and he deserves it.
The second thing I would like to thank the Liberal government for is the bill. It finally has arrived. I think it should have arrived a little sooner but I would like to thank the government for using many of our ideas and proposals that we have presented in the past. That is a feather in its cap too. It really did not ignore what we were saying. It included them in the bill. For that we say thank you.
There are a lots of good things in the bill but there are many things that we must now take into consideration. I would ask every member of the government who is present tonight to please hear me out and to consider these things quickly in terms of dealing not only with the bill but with terrorism itself.
I will start with Parks Canada. This may surprise people. They may wonder what in the... that has to do with the issue but I will explain.
Presently something is happening in all parks across Canada. At one time it was the duty of many park wardens to enforce the laws, to look after the needs of managing our parks and to make sure that things were going well. It was managed by those people who were best trained and best experienced for that kind of work: the park wardens themselves.
They did an excellent job in the past and we want them to continue to do a good job. What does that have to do with the bill? Here is the problem.
We know that the one thing that is lacking in the bill is the resources to do the work that will be required as a result of September 11. I do not know who would initiate it, but it is time for somebody in the government to initiate some conversations with the heritage minister to deal with the park warden situation and get them back to work doing what they do best, which is looking after the parks of Canada, and thus releasing the hundreds of RCMP officers who are trying to do that job.
The government has hundreds of RCMP officers trying to manage our parks. They are not trained or qualified to do that job. They do not particularly like chasing poachers or looking for horns on top of vehicles that should not be there or confiscating things. They need to get back to what they are best qualified for and that is providing security and protection for this country.
I plead with somebody on that side of the House to talk to the heritage minister. We must deal with the park warden situation. We must get them back to work in the parks and equip them with the tools they need to do their job effectively so the RCMP officers can go back to their duties of providing safety and protection for this country, which is what they want to do. They do not want to chase elk, deer and those who would poach them.
Whoever came up with the idea that is what had to take place really surprises me. However, the move was made and it will cost, if it has not already, as was reported to me, about $40 million to have RCMP officers in the park areas doing the job of highly qualified people who are already there just waiting to go back to work.
Following the circumstances of September 11, it makes absolutely no sense for us to even consider using police officers in some capacity other than that of providing safety and protection to this great nation of ours. Since that is what they want to do and what they were trained to do, why, for Pete's sake, does the government not allow them to do it? Could the members over there please wake up the heritage minister and tell her to get the issue settled with the park wardens? They want to get back to work as well. They can do a great job. Let them do their work.
I have visited a number of border crossings, land border crossings and airport crossings, and if there is one thing customs officers want to contribute to the whole cause it is to be given the ability to actively participate in the protection of Canadians and Canadian soil.
I would like to read to the House the regulations regarding customs officers. It is number 16 of the regulations. It states:
Customs officers shall not use force against members of the public where it is known or strongly suspected that the individual is carrying a weapon and considered dangerous, if in the judgment of the officer involved the use of force would present an undue risk to their personal safety or to the safety of another officer of the public. In these circumstances officers shall note the pertinent details of the case, permit the individuals to proceed into Canada unobstructed and then officers will notify the police immediately.
Whoever wrote that regulation did not take into account the 50, 60 or more crossings in this country. When they phone the police it is up to two or three hours before the police can respond to their call, just because of their location. A lot of these locations have one individual on duty. If anyone thinks for a moment that the terrorists would only use the most active ports to enter into our country, the bigger ports, they had better think again. The terrorists know about these ports. They know about these entries into Canada where there is a cabin and one person on duty and that at 10 o'clock or 9 o'clock at night they put out a pylon to stop the flow of traffic and then go home.
Let me tell the House about the attitude of the officers on the front line, the first line of defence at the borders. They want to be equipped and trained. They want the tools needed to enter into the battle of stopping terrorism from entering this country. They do not want to allow peoples to enter into our country unobstructed when they know they will only cause a lot of trouble and grief to a lot of innocent people. They know this will happen but because of government regulation they are not allowed to stop them.
We should all think about terrorists arriving at our border. They are smart enough to know they cannot come through Toronto or through Port Erie, so they go up to Roosevelt, which has only one person, or somewhere else that has only a one cabin one person operation and they come right in. All they have to do is act tough and scary and the customs officer has no choice but to let him go and then phone the RCMP which could be 200 to 300 miles away.
These are just common sense things that we could do to provide protection.
I encourage the government to get the park wardens back so we can bring more police back on duty doing what they do best. It should also train and equip our customs officers so they can do the job of arresting people at the border like they so desperately want to do.
We have to change our attitude on this. It is a serious thing. Allowing terrorists to enter our country unobstructed creates a great risk to people in Canada and that just plain does not make sense.
I ask the government to please listen to the people on the front lines, to those who work hour after hour in defence of this land. It must hear their pleas and listen to them. If the government puts away its bureaucratic thoughts and thinks about the guys who are out there really working, I think it will come up with some real good plans for the security of this nation.