Mr. Speaker, I will take this opportunity to congratulate the hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord on her speech and to thank her for drawing attention to what is going on, particularly in my riding of Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, where those who could do a great deal in the battle against organized crime are no longer present. I will give the background on this. There used to be two RCMP detachments, one at Gaspé and the other on the Islands.
A year and a half ago, the detachment on the Islands become just a telephone connection to Gaspé. There is no local contingent. Situated as they are in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Magdalen Islands are becoming an ideal environment for organized crime. It is as if it has been advertised as an open house. An open house, an opportunity to take advantage of what I would term government nonchalance. I would also go so far as to say that these actions are irresponsible. With nine detachments gone, one can well wonder about those that are left. We do have an RCMP presence at Gaspé, but for how long?
This I think illustrates just what we have been hearing and seeing about the government's washing its hands of responsibility. We see this in its actions, or lack of action. I would like to hear the hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord say more about the advantages of having an RCMP detachment since she still has one in her riding. Since laws are important to fighting crime, what we in the Bloc Québécois are proposing is to strengthen the law and change the burden of proof. That is very important and also leads us to examine the situation in order to see what we can do about organized crime.
I will take this opportunity, of course, to ask: what next after Magdalen Islands? Gaspé? And then what? That is the dangerous situation we are in right now.