The hon. member says no. I think it is very important that we understand that part of the public good is in prosecuting those individuals. In so doing the police need to have access. They need to be able to investigate and see the pornographic images in order to to prosecute these people.
Those members of the opposition who choose not to accept this have to be understanding of the sensitivities and the problems that are involved in the prosecution of these offences. There is no answer to say that there is an absolute and complete prohibition on pornography. We have to leave a way and a means, for example, in dealing with it in medical institutions, research institutions. It would not be allowed unless the defence was available of the public good because it is for the public good to deal with it in that fashion.
We do have disagreements in the House but the House has the ultimate authority to go forward. The member talked about section 33 of the charter. I believe that was put in the charter for good reason. It has been used within provinces to date. I am not aware that it has been used at the federal level, but from that perspective it is there to provide a safety valve if a situation were to arise where we would not able to react as a legislature in an appropriate fashion quickly enough. That at least is another way and means to deal with the issues of the charter.
However we must remember what that does. When we deal with section 33 of the charter it effectively takes away the other benefits that the charter was originally set out to give. What we would effectively be saying is that notwithstanding all those other principles we are going forward with this other perspective.
It is very clear that section 33 of the charter does have a valid reason for being there. Yes, it has been used and may be used in certain circumstances but it must be used with care because those principles, as I said earlier, are either respected or they are not. I believe we should always try to respect the principles that form the basis of the charter.