Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I know he is always a faithful attendee of our debates and it is always a pleasure to exchange views with him.
I would invite him not to confuse two notions. There is a criminal code, which sets out offences based on behaviour, which is termed actus reus and on intent, which is termed mens rea .
We are not disputing the system of substantive offences. We are not saying that a person or a young person who has committed rape should not be sentenced. Where we have a particular model in Quebec is that we have the goal of rehabilitation and engage in a specific type of legal process. We are not saying that criminal law ought not to exist. We are saying that if a person has committed rape, to take our colleague's example, we must first of all seek to understand what has led him to do so.
Will incarcerating youngsters at a young age under a system similar to the adult system lead to their rehabilitation? We think that the answer is no and that the system must offer some kind of rehabilitation program with professionals, with people who will look beyond the offence that was committed to try to understand. Sometimes rehabilitation is possible, but sometimes it is not. When it is not possible, we understand that we must turn to a different system.
The Quebec model has proven its effectiveness. As statistics will show, the fact that we want a different system does not mean that young people are more violent in Quebec. This is what motivates the member for Berthier—Montcalm in his initiative, as well as the National Assembly.
I did not have time to talk about that because time does fly, but our colleague must know that the National Assembly, the only legislature representing a francophone majority in North America, passed a unanimous resolution on that issue. Both the Liberals led by Jean Charest and ADQ leader Mario Dumont asked the former Minister of Justice to withdraw her bill. It is not often that such a consensus can be seen within an assembly. It must mean that the Quebec model has some level of support among those who work with young people as well as those who speak on behalf of citizens as a whole, that is members of the National Assembly.