Madam Speaker, the exchange we just heard shows the degree of emotion that sometimes erupts in this place on motions which I think should be debated; that is not to say that we are going to have all of the answers at the end of the day.
I am going to speak specifically to the motion, which states:
That this House call upon the government to bring in measures to protect and reassert the will of Parliament against certain court decisions that: (a) threaten the traditional definition of marriage as decided by the House as, “the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”; (b) grant house arrest to child sexual predators and make it easier for child sexual predators to produce and possess child pornography; and (c) grant prisoners the right to vote.
Those issues have been debated this morning.
The previous member spoke specifically on the definition of marriage. I do agree with her. I do not think, if we check the record, that she used the inflammatory language that she has been accused of using by the member for Halifax. I think the record will show that. I think her language was appropriate and it was consistent with what she believes and what many of us believe, but it was not homophobic, and I think it is regrettable that the member for Halifax used that term.
Really, the motion speaks to the issue of who decides public policy. Is it the elected officials in this country or is it the unelected judiciary? That is really the point of this whole debate. Who makes the laws?
I can remember the exact date of one of my first debates in the House. I spoke in the House on November 23, 1989 on the abortion issue. Again, that law was struck down by the Supreme Court. Parliament at the time was involved in debate on the issue of coming into the House with a bill that would survive close scrutiny by the Supreme Court, or in other words, conform within the Charter of Rights. Typical of the debate today, that bill involved a lot of raucous debate. A lot of different views were exchanged on the floor of the House.
Just as an example of how members can support or vote against a particular bill for a particular reason, there were people in the House at the time who voted against that bill because they felt it was more pro-choice than pro-life. I was one of the members who voted against it. Conversely, there were the members of the NDP. I remember that the member for Burnaby--Douglas, who sat a row or two across from me, voted against it for completely opposite reasons.
This shows us the controversy that can come out of legislation to address that need to have our elected politicians make public policy. Some Canadians, and I include myself, think there is something wrong with the system when public policy is struck down by the courts, as in the Robin Sharpe case where that was allowed to happen. Unelected judges are making these kinds of decisions. They do not have to be accountable to the people in their communities after having made those judgments, unlike us. We have to go back to the public to keep our jobs.
Our jobs are on the line because people measure us on the positions we take, the words we say in the House and whether we are for or against something. That is not the case with Canadian judges. Some are saying that we should have a system where judges have to be confirmed by Parliament so that whenever a vacancy arises in the Supreme Court, as is the case in the United States, there is a process where their confirmation is required. That suggestion has been made in Canada. It may be a sign that we adopt a system similar to that.
I do not think we want to get into that because most of us realize there are problems in the American system as well. Sometimes it turns into nothing more than a political battle, when the President of the United States, whether he is a Republican or Democrat, attempts to appoint someone to the supreme court. There is always a huge and almost uncontrollable debate in the United States as to whether judges will be confirmed. I do not think we want to see that happen. However one of the debates we should have in this place is whether we can change the way in which judges are appointed to Canada's Supreme Court. I am not saying I have the answers but it is time that debate take place to see if we can possibly change it.
One point I do want to make in regard to this motion is that the motion itself does not really come up with any answers. In other words, it is suggesting that something has to change but it is not suggesting any amendments. Very bluntly, the motion does not call for specifics. I am not saying that in a confrontational sense; it simply does not call for an amendment to current legislation, particularly to the Criminal Code. It does not speak of charter amendments. It does not speak of highlighting one particular right over another. It calls for the Government of Canada to acknowledge that this is an important issue and to bring in measures to protect and reassert the will of Parliament against certain court rulings.
We do not disagree with that, but the fact is there are no specifics. In all fairness, whatever those specifics might be, they have to be well thought out and well articulated. Possibly at some point one of the parties in the House might come in with an amendment that might be considered in this place, but the motion does not call for that.
Again, in the motion the Canadian Alliance highlighted some of the issues under some of the flashpoints. At the end of the day when we talk of issues like same sex marriage, child sexual predators, who are basically under house arrest and allowed to walk freely in the streets, and granting prisoners voting rights, those issues raise the ire of a lot of Canadians. They really are left scratching their heads about how things like this can happen.
It comes back to the supremacy of Parliament. It comes back with a government that is strong and brave enough to confront some of those issues head on and bring in legislation which is more consistent with the true values of Canadians. I would like to see the Government of Canada recognize that there is a problem, bring in some specific amendments, or maybe in a very brave sense, debate whether the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is serving us in the way we expect, in the way we expected it to 20 years ago when, for the first time, we brought in a charter in Canada. It has led to some of this public debate and some of these challenges in our courts.
I will leave it at that and I look forward to any comments or questions from my colleagues.