Mr. Speaker, I do not have the full amount time so I will try to be as fast as I can. There are a couple of things I would like to point out. I am certainly behind the motion and I congratulate my colleague for bringing it forward.
I will talk about some private members' business that has been successfully voted on in this parliament. There was a bill from the member for Winnipeg North Centre regarding labels on alcoholic drinks and a warning of the dangers of drinking while pregnant. I believe it was voted on and passed.
In the first session of the last parliament the member for Winnipeg Centre had a private member's bill on the retrofitting of government buildings for energy efficiency, which passed.
In the second session of the last parliament the member for Acadie—Bathurst had a private member's motion pass regarding the study on benefits for seasonal workers.
A long time ago when John Nunziata was sitting on that side of the House he brought forward a private member's bill to eliminate section 745 of the criminal code and it was passed by the House.
The member for Mississauga East brought forward a private member's bill forward proposing consecutive sentencing for certain sexual crimes and it was passed.
The member for Prince George—Bulkley Valley brought forward a very good private member's bill on drunk driving causing death and mandatory sentencing of seven years and it passed.
To my recollection, there have been many more private members' bills that have been voted on in the House of Commons. However, the problem I see is that I do not believe any one of them have ever been implemented.
I know that section 745, which was introduced in 1994, is still in the criminal code. It is still the faint hope clause. Nothing was done after the House accepted it. Members wanted it to pass and to become law but it never did. I was on the justice committee at the time. I saw John Nunziata's private member's bill come to the table of the justice committee and die because it was never brought forward for debate or discussion at the committee level. Even though I was a member of the committee and I asked hundreds of times to get the issue up for discussion and debate so that we could call witnesses and get it into law, it was ignored.