Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc for her question.
I am not our party's critic in the area so I have not had the opportunity to speak to the new minister about my professional experiences in dealing with youth crime and young offenders. I cannot absolutely guarantee my colleague from the Bloc that I will do that. I do not want to infringe on the hon. member for Winnipeg--Transcona who is our critic in the area, but given the opportunity I would be more than happy to discuss it with him.
I will reiterate a couple of points I made before question period. When I was practising in the area and dealing with the problems of how to treat, care for and bring young offenders to justice, we did not have the facilities. We did not have the proper orientation either but we particularly did not have the services or facilities. We were constantly looking across the country. Almost inevitably when we found a service we needed implemented we could turn to Quebec and know it would be there. It almost always was.
I do not want to give the province all the necessary authority, but the fact is that this was the position it took almost all the time. This is a philosophy under which one does not use coercion and force.
Our philosophy is also that we do not use force. Let me put it in the positive. We recognize that there are other ways of dealing with youth crime and with the youth who are caught in that system. They used a philosophical approach that was significantly different and, quite frankly, that those of us who were working in the system were very envious of.