Madam Speaker, I would like to say that I am pleased to speak to this bill but I am actually saddened that yet again the Conservative government has put forward a bill with the sole end to put people in prison. This is the third such bill that has come to us and I must ask why.
In this place, be it a naive point of view being a new member, it seems to me that our job is to find answers. Our job is to create bills and create tools that answer some of the issues that affect Canadians. Rather than use private members' bills and these moments to put forward ideas that could help Canadians, this is the third time that a bill has come forward that is meant to throw Canadians in jail.
The hon. member just spoke about the protection of property, streets and cities, but these bills are designed as reactionary after the fact. Businesses are not protected because they are already damaged. The streets are not safer because the riots have already happened. Yes, there may be methodology to take care of things after the fact but I am not sure why there is not more energy going into trying to figure out how to deter these things and dissuade people from committing these acts.
I listened very intently to the member's distinction from the Criminal Code. Section 351(2) of the Criminal Code states:
Every one who, with intent to commit an indictable offence, has his face masked or coloured or is otherwise disguised is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.
Although the hon. member pointed out some subtleties in terms of what already exists in the Criminal Code, I am wondering why this bill needs to exist. I also wonder why the bill was put forward. I do not know why there are not bills that come up that actually help Canadians. Maybe it is a means of finding more bodies for the $19 billion prison scheme that the Conservative government has in mind. That is a whole lot of prisons and a whole lot of space.