Madam Speaker, I had the privilege this past week of participating with one of my colleagues in a seminar sponsored by King's University College in Edmonton on fear-based government policy. The hon. member is making a very valid point. We need to make sure, as elected members of Parliament in a democratic nation, that we are making decisions on critical law and policy based on evidence and not on fear.
We have the responsibility, as elected officials, to make sure that we govern in a cogent, informed way. I would ask the member how members of her party can bring themselves to consider supporting the bill? It languished for four years. The government with its fighting-hard-against-crime agenda has simply not given prominence to the bill. There have been a number of actions brought against alleged terrorists in this country, and at no time was this law utilized. Where is the evidence? Where is the sound rationale for bringing this law forward?
I am concerned that surely, in a country that is run by the rule of law and democratic foundations, would the elected officials ever support a law that would take away the fundamental right to remain silent, the right to not self-incriminate, the right to know the charges, and the right not to be interrogated or imprisoned without knowing the charges.
I recognize that the previous Liberal government supported this law. It was at a time of fear of what was going on in the world. How then, given the member's very cogent argument, can she bring herself or her party to support this law?