Mr. Speaker, the best way to get attention is to politicize a very serious topic.
When it comes to issues of crime and the victims of crime, no member of Parliament has carte blanche. No member of Parliament can stand up here and say “I have all the answers” or “My party has all the answers”.
As I said earlier, there is not one member of Parliament, or a senator for that matter, who does not know someone who has been a victim of crime.
We have, over and over, tried to emphasize that if the government is going to institute longer penalties for crime, then it must tell people where the evidence is, the scientific evidence or the research, that shows that will be a preventer of crime.
Where are the funding elements to help the provinces and territories build the additional prisons for the longer times, et cetera?
We have asked those two questions over and over again, and we have not gotten an answer. I will give the Conservatives credit in this regard: they brought up a subject that is worthy of debate. I would remind them that just because they brought up a topic for debate does not mean that other members of Parliament from other parties do not have the constitutional and democratic right to ask serious questions when it comes to these issues.