Madam Speaker, I will not mention it. However nobody has defended the government's point of view. We were hoping there would be a far more aggressive defence regarding this democratic issue and that someone could explain why everything is lumped in one bill.
Child luring and child pornography are important issues today. They are issues because of the explosion of the Internet around the world. People are taking advantage of it so we must be vigilant. Our constituents have written to us because they are concerned. We support legislation dealing with those issues.
Animal cruelty is something we cannot support as it stands right now because we need more clarification and debate. The bill should be an effective bill and not a bill with gaping holes which at the end of the day does not fulfill its mandate.
During the debate on the unfortunate incidents that took place in America we pointed out the gaping holes that exist in the immigration legislation. I heard the minister of immigration say on television that she was looking at filling those gaping holes. However there are still gaping holes in the immigration legislation that need to be looked at.
What will be the outcome of this omnibus bill? We will have the same situation. Why could it not have been done right in the first place with separate bills? It is because the government does not have an agenda.
If we look at the long term calendar there is nothing much on the agenda. There is no vision, no strong initiatives. The government is on cruise control as far as I am concerned. Then, what is the urgency for putting everything into one bill?
We have many questions regarding the Firearms Act and about the amount of money the government has spent on the registration fiasco we keep hearing about from constituents. My constituents have phoned me many times and described the big fiasco and the difficulties they are having. Technically many of them have already broken the law because of the inability to register their guns.
These are the things that we need to talk out. Is the government so afraid of its own legislation that it needs to go through the back door to pass legislation?
Disarming a peace officer is a very serious crime. We heard from police officers about the need for and the importance of this legislation. Many of the members on that side will not have done their job if they vote for this bill because in reference to the Firearms Act they have ignored what their constituents were saying to them.
The bill is the beginning of an erosion of the democratic right of Canadians and the opposition. The government is using its muscle and Canada is becoming a dictatorship under one party rule.
At this given time, the bill is being rammed through without proper input of the Canadian people. The Liberals may have the majority, but at least we have had time to talk about each and every point and discuss it properly, not have unrelated justice issues. If this goes through, how many other omnibus bills will come forward? We do not know. Any time the government has an unpopular bill, it wants to send it through without debate. Do ministers want to leave a legacy, even though Canadians do not want it?
How can we stop an omnibus bill? Right now, and like my colleague said, we are appealing to the government to think for a moment. Government members were in opposition. They know the importance of the opposition, of holding the government accountable, of having debate on issues and bringing all the points forward. They can do this by withdrawing the bill and bringing it back in stages for proper discussion.
What will we tell our friends who we bring to Canada to see how our democracy works? If we showed them this bill and told them what happened, even they would scratch their heads and say that something is wrong. Why spend millions of dollars promoting democracy? We should also live by example.
In conclusion, the bill has been drafted by the bureaucrats with an intention of getting all the points in without serious debate because they think they know right and they expect the representatives of the Canadian public to rubber stamp it. That is what the bill is all about.