Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member's speech.
I am supportive of Bill C-26 and it being tough on enforcement. I am concerned because in the member's speech I did not hear anything on the other side of the equation, which is that those criminals who are committing these property offences go to jail and eventually come out.
As the critic for public safety, I have talked to police chiefs and police officers across the nation. They are concerned about the government's complete lack of action on programming and dealing with problems like addiction. This is causing a huge problem.
Criminals are going into the prison system but they are not getting the treatment they need to deal with what often are addiction issues. Somewhere north of 60% of those incarcerated are facing addiction issues. They come out of jail and they repeat the offence. Why? Because they have to feed their addiction and that is how they get money.
The Calgary police force has introduced the notion of a safe jail, yet it is not getting support from the government so that those individuals can get the support and services they need to break the cycle of addiction.
The member talked about being tough on crime. Could he talk about how we could actually stop the victimization in the first place by addressing issues like addiction? Why were those not referred to in his speech?