Art Hanger

[Supply, April 3rd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, the member who just gave a presentation I know has a legal background. He is a lawyer and was possibly a prosecutor at one time, I am not sure. On the Liberal side there have been numerous references made to this so-called investigation by the RCMP and that the RCMP closed the books on the matter.

Is there a section in the criminal code dealing with conflict of interest specifically where the RCMP would be involved in a major investigation or is it outside its jurisdiction? I am sure the member could distinguish between the two given that if it is outside the RCMP's jurisdiction, then who should be investigating a matter such as what is before the House for debate today?

[Supply, April 3rd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I do not know the relevance of these particular comments coming from this member to the motion. If I may refer to the motion, it states:

That this House calls for the establishment of an independent judicial inquiry to determine if the Prime Minister is in breach of conflict of interest rules regarding his involvement with the Grand-Mère Golf Club and the Grand-Mère Inn; and that the inquiry should have broad terms of reference with the power to subpoena all relevant documents—

[Health, March 21st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, this disease is actually destroying an agricultural industry in the United Kingdom. There is a threat to any country when products, equipment or personnel leave England that could very well spread the disease quickly.

The minister's office was contacted on March 16 and seemed to know very little about what was happening to this end. There is a potential arrival of troops coming from England in the next few weeks, or they may be on their way now. I am asking the minister what steps—

[Health, March 21st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, British army troops now training at CFB Wainwright and Suffield came from the same agricultural heartland in the United Kingdom now ravaged by foot and mouth disease.

These military units tasked with the clean up of dead animals in the United Kingdom have been exposed to this disease in extreme ways. Their clothing, equipment, food supplies, and even the soldiers themselves could very well be contaminated.

What extraordinary measures has the minister taken to protect Canada's livestock from contamination?

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should get together with the minister of public works. This is the only country in the NATO alliance that has divided up a major defence procurement into two projects: avionics and airframe. There is no prime contractor either. What happens when something goes wrong? Who is responsible?

My question is for the minister. Who dreamed up this scheme to divide the contracts? Which minister was it: the public works minister or the national defence minister? Is he prepared to stand in the House today and take the blame for this mess?

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of Public Works and Government Services announced in the House that the maritime helicopter contract would not be signed until next year; that is 2002.

That puts the delivery of the Sea King replacement to 2007, maybe even 2008. That is another delay in a 30 year project. There is something wrong here.

The minister has told the House and the military repeatedly that we would be getting new choppers in 2005. Does the minister still actually have a plan—

[Violence, March 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to support a campaign waged by a concerned Calgary woman, Carrie Kohan.

I intend to make her campaign the subject of a private member's bill entitled Carrie's Guardian Angel Law. The goal of the bill would be to finally get tough, really tough, with sexual predators who commit the most egregious and heinous of assaults against children.

It is time we put violent sexual offenders away for 20 years to life, with no chance for parole. The only sure way to deal with these incurable molesters is to lock them up. When a sexual assault involves the betrayal of trust between victim and predator, this too should be severely punished.

When sexual predators are arrested, let us be assured that they have plenty of time behind bars to consider the enormity of their crime and the lasting psychiatric damage inflicted upon their victims.

I stand with millions of Canadians and say that we in this House can do something to stop the pain. We can support Carrie's Guardian Angel Law.

[Supply, March 13th, 2001]

Or if they are out on parole. There are a myriad of things that must be dealt with.

Those are questions I would like the member to answer. The one thing I feel is probably the most important, and I think other jurisdictions have really come to grips with this issue, is placing the onus on the sex offender to keep the registry current. CPIC does not track an offender if he goes from Halifax to Vancouver. These characters are very crafty. Sex offenders are probably the most manipulative of all criminals when we look at how they operate just to get hold of our kids. On that basis, I would like the hon. member to comment.

[Supply, March 13th, 2001]

Madam Speaker, I listened for 20 minutes to the hon. member for Mississauga West going through his rendition of how he sees this bill coming into effect.

I know he has concentrated, as have most members on the Liberal side of the House today, on the value of CPIC as a form of registration. Yes, CPIC is a tool. It is a tool used by the police. That is what it is designed for. It is designed to collect and build up a database on the criminal pasts of many people. Sex offenders certainly would be part and parcel of that whole affair. Nobody denies that CPIC is a tool. However we are talking about something far beyond what CPIC provides.

As a police officer for 22 years I know the value of CPIC. I also know it does not track pedophiles or sexual offenders. It does not require sexual offenders to register. That is the downfall of relying solely on the CPIC system that is designed for a police database and expecting it to account for that problem.

I recognize that the member realizes that CPIC is not the total panacea. It will not fix everything. This registry, I believe, will be a leap forward in making sex offenders more accountable.

To go back to the CPIC situation, what happens if a pedophile changes his name? They do that on a regular basis while in jail. What happens if a sex offender has a pardon? That is as much a part of the process as it is for any criminal. They are changing their names and receiving pardons, and a stop by a police officer on the street or even a check on the CPIC system will not reveal that they are in fact a criminal.

[Supply, March 13th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I will relate to the member a situation that took place in Calgary some months back, where a sex offender who had offended not only in Canada but in the United States finished serving his time in Bowden penitentiary in Calgary. He served his complete time. Of course there was no registry in the province of Alberta and it just so happened that this offender moved to Oklahoma. He did not tell anyone. Through family and friends, word came back to my office that this offender was down there. He was a serious sex offender who had served several years in prison.

What do we do in a situation like that? It is difficult. We took the initiative and phoned the local sheriff where we knew he was staying in Oklahoma. The local sheriff was quite surprised that he had such an offender in his area and said that according to Oklahoma law the onus is on the offender to register in that area. Of course the offender had been in the States and knew what the laws were there, so the sheriff sought him out. The driving force for a pedophile or a sex offender to react to the registry in a positive way in Oklahoma is a five year sentence if he fails to do so. This is quite significant and it is cut and dried.

Would the member see something like that working in this jurisdiction of Canada? If so, what form should it take?