Val Meredith

[Young Offenders Act, February 10th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I find it amusing that a person who had the ability to bring in crime prevention programs over 20 years ago is now talking about the need for crime prevention programs to prevent this kind of youth crime.

If that is the solution and the answer, why did this individual not work that kind of a concept into the Young Offenders Act years and years ago? Why did that person who was in the position of instituting crime prevention programs not do it 20 or 25 years ago? Is it not just a little bit late now?

I would suggest that the Reform Party does not disagree that we do need to look at crime prevention and try to keep young people from committing crimes. That does not mean when they do commit crimes that we absolve them of all responsibility and let them return to the street without any kind of recourse for what they did.

Not only did I visit schools back in my constituency, but I also visited the young offender detention centres that are run by the provinces. I cannot say I was pleased with what I saw. What I heard from people working with young offenders is not only the need for accountability and all other things, but the need for government legislation that allows them to work with a federal system in identifying and sharing information on these young people so they know who will be serious problems as adults. The system does not allow for that kind of interchange of information.

The federal government has the responsibility to implement programs and legislation that will allow communities to look after the problem of young people who are falling into criminal patterns.

[Petitions, February 10th, 1995]

The second petition, Mr. Speaker, is from petitioners who are registering their concern about the Young Offenders Act and how it is unable to prevent crimes by young people. They feel changes need to be made.

My petitioners call upon Parliament to urge the government to review the Young Offenders Act in an open and accountable process which addresses the following principles: deterrence of the offender, the accountability of the offender, and the rights of the victims.

It is my pleasure to present this petition to Parliament.

[Petitions, February 10th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions I would like to present this morning.

The first one is in recognition of volunteer firemen. These volunteer firemen protect our communities without any financial compensation. There is a deductible, a tax exemption of $500 that is recognized.

My petitioners are humbly praying that this tax exemption be raised from $500 to $1,000 because no change has been made in this tax exemption since 1980.

I would like to support this request from my petitioners for Parliament to pass legislation to recognize the contribution of the firefighters.

[Justice, February 10th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the minister mentioned the conference in Victoria. At that conference last month the Minister of Justice stated that he was opposed to post-sentence detention orders because they may infringe upon the rights of convicted sex offenders. I fail to see where this shows that the federal government is more concerned about the protection of society, as he has just stated.

Could the minister explain to the House why he believes the rights of convicted sex offenders like Fernand Auger are more important than the lives and the rights of victims like Melanie Carpenter and Pamela Cameron?

[Justice, February 10th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario have plans to advise citizens when a high risk sex offender is being released into their communities. These plans are necessary because the federal government has been unwilling to introduce any legislation that deals with high risk offenders.

My question is for the Minister of Justice. Why is it that the minister is not showing leadership but rather is abdicating his responsibility to the provinces?

[Young Offenders Act, February 10th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with some interest when the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce accused the Reform Party of not supporting legislation that was going to solve some of the problems of why young people commit crimes.

I suggest to the member that he had ample opportunity when he was Solicitor General and in a position to bring in legislation, to prevent the problems we have today. He did not. All he did was bring in legislation that amplified the problems we now have as a result of the Young Offenders Act.

Like my colleague here, I went into a number of schools in my constituency over the holiday break. I heard the same things. The young people in our country do not feel protected by this legislation. They want some serious changes made to it, not just housekeeping and not just changes in the way we say things. They want to feel free when walking the streets, unhampered in their schools and in their communities.

I do not hear that from the young people. What I hear from the young people and the seniors in my community is that they want protection. They do not see protection in what the government is offering.

It concerns me when I see that the government, which has the potential and the opportunity to put in legislation that would keep pedophiles from wandering the streets, which would at least let the community know who these pedophiles are in order to protect the young people in our communities, fails to do that.

My party is waiting for the government to come up with legislation that we can support. We are waiting for legislation that will make a difference, not this kind of legislation that is going to do nothing but take us further down the path of do nothing legislation.

[Dangerous Offenders, February 6th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, on January 6 Melanie Carpenter was working alone at a tanning salon in a busy mall in Surrey, B.C. In the middle of the afternoon it now appears likely that Fernand Auger entered the business and kidnapped her. Driving near the town of Yale, Auger pulled into an access road near the Fraser River where he sexually assaulted Melanie. Then with her hands tied behind her back he cowardly and brutally stabbed her to death.

Auger solved one problem by killing himself, but many questions remain unanswered. He was a convicted sex offender who the Correctional Service of Canada deemed to be a high risk offender. However, despite this prognosis the law required that Auger be released.

Why do we have a law that requires the authorities to release offenders that they know are likely to re-offend? Offenders who are likely to kill a Melanie Carpenter or a Pamela Cameron.

Over the past four months two young Surrey women have been murdered, two deaths that were preventable. We must act now before there is another.

[Security Intelligence Review Committee, December 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the Solicitor General cannot remove himself from the responsibility of representing Canadians on this issue.

I will be talking to SIRC tomorrow. This investigation on allegations was from an individual considered by the CSIS investigator as an unknown quality who was self-serving and very opportunistic. It would appear that investigations of this nature can be held with very weak probable cause.

What assurance can the minister give to Canadians that contributors to political parties today are not being investigated by CSIS?

[Security Intelligence Review Committee, December 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the SIRC report on the Heritage Front affair is full of contradiction. It states that CSIS did not investigate the Reform Party or its membership. Yet in the same report it has acknowledged that a CSIS Ottawa region investigator searched the names of the contributing individuals and companies to the Reform Party leader's 1988 campaign against the CSIS databases.

I ask the minister if this does not constitute an investigation of the party and its membership, what does?

[Security Intelligence Review Committee, December 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, while I am delighted to learn that the report is finally being released, I would like to ask the minister about his response to a question yesterday when he responded that it was his responsibility to decide on the best way to release the report.

Does the minister believe that the best way to release the report is to delay its release so that he does not have to face scrutiny on the contents of the report until February?