Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my thanks to my colleague for his well-received speech in this House.
I took some time to go through the Criminal Code of Canada, specifically section 83. It is a very lengthy part of the Criminal Code. For those who are not aware, that is the section that deals with terrorism. It defines every aspect of terrorism: participating in it, supporting it, and financing it. However, that is not the point I want to get to. The point is that terrorism is defined under the Criminal Code. It is a crime, and I want to instruct my Conservative friends in the House that it is a crime.
Now, if I, as a natural-born Canadian, or any of my natural-born Canadian friends, were to engage in terrorist activities, we would go to jail. I have heard suggestions in this House that the bill would somehow let terrorists off the hook. The punishment for terrorism is usually 25 years to life. It is not an easy sentence.
When we look at the bill, we have to remember that terrorism is a crime and should be treated as such. I would like my friend from Burnaby to extrapolate on that point and maybe give some instruction to our Conservative colleagues in this House.