Mr. Speaker, I am glad to share my time, because the more views expressed in this House the better.
The clock is ticking. Usually, I am pleased to take part in the House's debates. Today, however, I am quite sad to have to repeat once more what I said before: this bill will leave Quebec unable to extend a helping hand to young offenders who are themselves victims more than anything else when they turn to crime.
They need help, not coercion. It is unfortunate that we have before us a bill that does not please anyone. Alberta is obviously not pleased at all with this bill. Ontario and Quebec are not either. If we were to consult the residents of all of the provinces, we would probably find out that a majority of Canadians are against this bill.
There is only one flicker of hope left. It may sound strange, but let us hope that the Liberal senators will be more intelligent and more understanding than the Liberal members from Quebec and will come up with the necessary amendments to make this bill more palatable to Quebec.
When I hear people say that they would like this bill to be even harsher, when I hear them talk about 10, 11 and 12 year olds and in some cases 8 year olds, I cannot help but wonder what planet this is. In what kind of country do we live in if we think, even for 30 seconds, that we should take 8 to 12 year olds and hand them over to the justice system because they did something we see as reprehensible, when the first question we should be asking ourselves is what kind of education they have received? What kind of school do they attend?
What kind of primary care has society been providing to them since birth for these children not to be able to behave as we would like them to behave even though they were born with the full potential of becoming perfectly balanced citizens?
It makes me very sad, and I hope all Canadians will know it tonight through television, to think that in a few minutes members will vote in favour of this bill. Those who vote against it will do it for two reasons. For some, the bill does not go far enough, it should be even harsher. For us, Quebecers, it goes too far.
The legislation is so rigid, contrary to everything the minister said, that it will be impossible for any province to apply its provincial system of justice and the approach it wants to use with young people.
It is astounding to see that the minister is totally deaf to all our pleas for justice for children. Finally, when we think about it seriously, two things are wrong: there are two officials sitting at the justice department who see this as a personal victory. The bureaucrats are in the process of defeating the parliamentarians. Since 1993, they have been trying to impose upon us a legislation that makes no sense whatsoever. These two officials, along with the minister, are challenging us. They keep telling her not to back down.
This is what is so sad here: the bureaucrats are working against the parliamentarians.