Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre.
I would like to address my remarks to all clear-headed and decent Canadians, like those in Perth—Middlesex and in my own constituency. I think I can safety state that the people in these two ridings hold the same values and share a common philosophy.
Recent court decisions are a concern of most Canadians. Canadians do not hold our courts in contempt but Canadians think they have reason to believe that our courts have contempt for them, for their beliefs and for their values.
On the issue of child pornography, we witnessed the use of the defence of artistic merit. Where is the artistic merit in written or visual material that deals with the sexual exploitation of children? How could anyone buy the argument that graphic depictions of children being sexually manipulated against their will by savage predators has any artistic merit? Yet we have the court accepting this specious and brutal argument.
Decent and normal Canadians reject that argument because they know child pornography is clearly harmful to children and must be the subject of criminal prosecution. It is not only our right as parliamentarians, it also is our duty and moral responsibility to eliminate the defence of artistic merit by repealing that section of the Criminal Code.
Most Canadians have never seen or read any of this unspeakable material with no wish to be exposed to it. I have seen the light of innocence and trust in a child's eyes extinguished by the horror and pain of this terrible exploitation.
The Canadian Alliance invited the most senior Toronto police investigators from the child pornography squad to visit our caucus and give us their opinion on what was being done and what needs to be done.
To this day, those terrible, horrible, depraved photographs are seared in my memory and still tear at my heart. If I am impatient for change to our laws and angry when members in this chamber argue against this motion, I will explain that it is because I have seen the evidence.
Now the Liberals and their friends are going to attempt to further confuse Canadians. The latest scheme is to allow lawyers to argue that perhaps there is some public good to be found in child pornography. Public good and child pornography do not belong in the same sentence. There is absolutely no merit, artistic or otherwise, in child pornography. There can be no public good in it either.
It is simply repugnant to Canadians that the government would allow anyone to consider that somehow the public good can be served by the production and distribution of child pornography. How can the public good be served by such depraved material? How can the corruption of innocent children be considered some sort of contribution to the public good?
Canadians want legislation declaring child pornography indefensible on every level. They also want harsh sentences handed down to the guilty. While we are at it, we should raise the age of consent from 14 to 16, while maintaining the close in age exemption.
Why can we not give our children the gift of an extended childhood to give them the greater gift of freedom from legal exploitation? Why is it that the Liberals and their friends so harshly reject the notion that children under 16 deserve our protection? Why do the Liberals and their friends buckle in the face of Supreme Court decisions that rob our children of their innocence, trust, dignity and, most important, their childhood?
That old refrain of respecting court decisions is wearing thin. How can Canadians be expected to continue respecting our courts when they increasingly believe that our courts do not respect Canadians? We can remedy that right here in this Parliament. Insofar as child pornography is concerned, we can eliminate the defence of artistic merit in child pornography that is clearly so harmful to children.
This is the people's Parliament and children are people. Children are owed the love, the respect and the protection of their Parliament.
If all hon. members stand together in the House, we would be sending a message to Canadians and to our courts. That message would be very clear. Any obscene material, any pornography that depicts the exploitation of children is legally, morally and totally repugnant to Canadians and to their Parliament.
The other court decision that rankles us as well is the idea that pornographic sexual predators can serve their sentences under house arrest. It is totally unacceptable. What about children who walk up to that front door in all innocence or, even more frightening, a child who runs to that house for shelter against a threat? The inhabitant of that house could be just as dangerous, or more so, for that child than the one from whom he or she is trying to escape. It simply does not make sense. A criminal is a criminal and a child predator is most definitely a criminal. They belong in prison, not in the comfort of their own homes.
If Parliament adopted a national child protection strategy and allocated the necessary financial resources, we would be taking a step in the right direction.
Plain and simple, the priorities of Canadians are not the priorities exhibited by the Liberals. The police and crown lack the necessary resources to ensure the investigation and prosecution of child pornography, and related crimes receive the appropriate priority. What greater priority could there be than the safety, trust and innocence of our children?
I stress that this is not a partisan issue. It is simply and only an issue of children and their protection. How could anyone with a clear conscience stand and disagree? How could any member of Parliament turn his or her back on Canada's children? How could members look another child in the eye if they do not support what it is we are here speaking about today?
We have to stop child pornography. How could any member ever approach a voter, who is also a parent, and ask for that person's trust and vote if we deny them this simple right?
Let us switch to another part of the motion. I think the majority of Canadians are wondering why the Liberals and their friends here in Ottawa are eroding many of the cherished beliefs, values and standards of Canadians. It is no surprise that Canadians are beginning to wonder who is in charge of their country and their destiny.
Liberals should have the right to denounce or support the motion, this whole concept, if it is what they and their constituents deem appropriate, without having to ask for the authority of the whip or face party discipline.
Another part of the motion echoes again the beliefs of the majority of Canadians. Law-abiding citizens and victims of criminals do not accept that prisoners should have the right to vote in Canadian elections. Prisons are places where people pay their debt to society. The fact that they receive pay from society while in prison still baffles many Canadians, but that is an argument for another day.
There is not a thinking Canadian anywhere who supports the notion that prisoners should have all the rights and privileges of those who live outside the prison walls and within the law. There is not a thinking Canadian anywhere who would agree that murderers should enjoy the same rights as his victims.
It devalues the vote. In fact, it inflates the value of the prisoner's vote while deflating the vote of citizens outside the prison walls.
If the right to vote is held as an inalienable right, a right that people have fought and died to win or retain, what value does it hold when a mass murderer enjoys the same right?
The Liberals and their friends make a tired argument that criminals are victims of society. If that were believed to be true, then we would have a question to ask, and I would challenge any Liberal across the way to answer the question. What did some innocent, law-abiding citizen do to society to deserve a brutal and agonizing death at the hands of his or her murderer? What did the innocent victims of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka or Clifford Olson do to society to deserve their deaths at the hands of these beasts?
Canadians do not believe the argument that criminals are the victims of society. Canadians do not believe that a vote from within a heavily populated prison should swing the results of an election. Canadians do not want prisoners to have the right to vote.
This is a non-votable motion. Having heard many speakers from other parties, especially the Liberals, I am left pondering one question. Because of the Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and Progressive Conservatives who argued against this motion, can we assume from that that they would not vote to protect children from being exploited at the hands of beasts involved in the child pornography industry? Do they believe that children at 14 years are old enough to be exploited by those who would do such things? Do they believe that Paul Bernardo, Karla Homolka and Clifford Olson should have the right to vote, the same as law-abiding citizens?
We will be reminding Canadians in the next election who stands where on the issue of protecting children. Right now it appears that the Canadian Alliance is the only party standing for Canadians.