Mr. Speaker, on the question of the retroactive effect of the registration system, I did not hear that sort of enthusiasm from government members when they brought in the firearms registration act on the technicalities of a retroactive effect of the legislation. However when it comes to sexual offenders who cause a lot of damage to a lot of people, they get on their high horse on the issue.
We deal with registration in our society. We register motor vehicles. We have to register with the government so we can file our income tax returns or we will get into trouble. If people want to sell wheat in the country, they have to register with the government.
There are rights that are trampled because of this. We can get into an argument on rights but someone on the government side says that the public good is more important than the individual rights involved.
When we take into account the high rate of recidivism among sexual offenders and the position of trust that so many hold in our society and when we look at their record and the devastation they have caused to people, both women and children, surely the protection of the children, women and people who are abused by people in trust are more important than the offender's right not to be registered.
It seems to me it is a fairly clearcut question when we put it in the perspective of all the other registration regimes we have, that we have a very compelling public reason to make this retroactive. If it is not retroactive, it is not really worth very much because the vast bulk of offenders already have a record and they are the menace to society.
Could the member from Winnipeg address this concern? It seems to me it is such a compelling argument in favour of registration, so overwhelmingly compelling, that we make it retroactive. If we do not, it is virtually useless. I would like to have the member's comments on that.