Mr. Speaker, I have been looking forward to this debate all day on Bill C-14, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the National Defence Act.
For the last 10 years in this country, crime has been going one way, and that is straight up. In fact, even in my home province of Saskatchewan and my city of Saskatoon, in the last decade under the Liberals, there have been pathetic soft-on-crime policies, and serious crime has gone up everywhere.
I just looked at the Saskatoon Police Service website, and the crime stats are amazing. I am going to share some of them with members here today.
If we compare today's crime stats to those of 10 years ago, assaults in my city are up 35%, kidnapping and hostage-taking are up 33%, sexual violations are up a massive 66%, and stalking and break and enters with firearms are both up 300%. That is over the last 10 years.
My riding has the highest concentration of seniors in this country. In reading these numbers, I was reminded of an incident that took place in my riding of Saskatoon South this summer. I have to share it with everyone.
A 75-year-old senior woman was taking her dog for a walk, as she normally does every day in the morning. They were walking by one of the beautiful community gardens we have in the riding, and as she was walking by, she noticed someone in the garden moving around from plot to plot. The senior then asked this lady if she actually had a plot in this garden and what she was doing. She said that if the person did not have a plot, she should leave, as some had spent hours with their garden.
That was all it took for this 27-year-old to attack the 75-year-old senior walking her dog. The victim was grabbed by the hair, thrown to the ground and then attacked, believe it or not, with a gardening tool. We are grateful that this did not end as badly as it could have, but the victim lost a chunk of hair. There were no broken bones, but just think of the trauma this 75-year-old had while walking her dog and then getting into an incident with a 27-year-old.
The attacker was apprehended thanks to the Saskatoon city police a short time after. The police found her hiding in a nearby bush and took her into custody. Guess what. She was charged with aggravated assault, assaulting a peace officer, breach of undertaking and breach of probation. Police say the woman punched a female special constable in the face while she was being booked into custody. No one is surprised that she was wanted elsewhere in the province. She ended up in Saskatoon South, and because of this gardening incident, she was finally caught.
After hearing about this attack, I sent a sympathy card to this senior, and after receiving it, she showed up at my constituency office. She laid out the whole story in front of us about what happened that day: leaving her place with her dog, going through this community garden and finding this 27-year-old rummaging row by row. Then, of course, she talked about the crime that is happening in our city. Crime is, in fact, out of control after a decade of Liberal soft-on-crime policies.
These are real stories. A 75-year-old woman, who normally feels safe in my city and my constituency, was attacked for no reason whatsoever. I will give a few more examples, if I can.
Earlier this month, there was a big drug bust in my riding; it was in Stonebridge. According to the Saskatoon Police Service, on November 6, police seized over $22,000 in cash, 750 grams of fentanyl, over half a kilogram of meth, 362 grams of cocaine, multiple mobile phones and assorted paraphernalia consistent with the illegal drug industry.
During the election, I specifically remember door knocking on that block. It is unnerving to think that I most likely knocked on that door in Stonebridge, completely unaware of what was happening on the other side. I wonder how many of us in the House have been in similar circumstances in their communities, when there have been incidents reported and later convictions. Members may have kind of wondered and said, “Oh yeah, I did door knock that area.”
I wish I could tell members that was an isolated incident in my city, but the truth is I cannot. Just last year, police concluded a nine-month investigation that saw the arrests of five high-level drug dealers, three of whom were operating in my riding. The total amount of everything seized was as follows: 4.2 kilograms of cocaine, almost three kilograms of meth, $16,000 in cash, a nine-millimetre carbine rifle, a prohibited handgun, ammunition, cell phones, various other equipment, and multiple vehicles.
In May, police arrested two men in Saskatoon for more drug trafficking. They conducted search warrants in a few locations in and around the city. They again seized a number of drugs, drug paraphernalia and over $400,000 in cash.
During the summer, my colleague, the member for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, and I met with the Saskatoon chief of police, Cam McBride. In fact, we met for over an hour. We discussed how soft-on-crime bail laws have allowed our cities to be taken over by violent repeat offenders. It was a fascinating conversation in my office.
During this meeting, Cam McBride, the city police chief, said that officers who are on the streets arrest the same people so often that the officers know them by name, saying they catch them on Monday, they are released, back on the street, and then they catch them again on Tuesday night. This is a result of disastrous catch-and-release policies and lax liberal laws, such as Bill C-5 and Bill C-75.
Earlier this year, I sent out a questionnaire to constituents asking what their views are on crime in our city. Overwhelmingly, the response was that the justice system needs to change in this country. The Liberals need to scrap their useless justice policies and adopt Conservative policies that actually are tough on crime.
I have gone to many ride-alongs in my city with paramedics and police. The first thing I noticed is that they know people by name. Repeat offenders are picked up early in the day and, unfortunately, released in the afternoon or night.
Last week in our city, the city police held a news conference to talk about a couple of issues. There are two hurdles that need to be navigated in my city for a full complement of officers to be realized: number one is recruitment and number two is the backlog. The provincial government is trying to help out. It has offered $8 million to pay for dozens of officers, but the public will unfortunately not see the impact any time soon.
The city police in my city have asked for an increase of $158 million in the city budget. That will be debated next week in Saskatoon. Every community is under pressure for new hires. It is a growing challenge, with fewer people today interested in a career of policing. That is disappointing.
I look at the RCMP in our province. We have had some major incidents, unfortunately, in our province over the last number of years. Hundreds more RCMP, if not thousands, are needed in our municipalities and cities to have the full complement of RCMP officers, which the government has promised. We are well short of that. In Saskatchewan right now, where we have the home of the RCMP Depot Division in Regina, we are short more than 100 RCMP officers in our communities.
I just wanted to say, in wrapping up, that this is an important bill. We know that there are lots of shortfalls. We look forward to further debate on Bill C-14.